Justice League: Fire Shadow
by Freedom Guard
Summary: My latest creation before I freeze my Halo stories after updating the last two. Naruto after his final mission for the world of his birth lands in a new one and ends up defending it along with other heroes. Possible H route for Naruto only. Will be on ice after Injustice Arc.
1. Chapter 1

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from DC or WSJ so don't bother me about that.

Prologue

Fox out of the woods…

( ): Thoughts

(( )): The Kyuubi

…

The city was beautiful, tall skyscrapers, bright lights, beautiful views, the sounds of life itself as it people moved about…

And none of them made any sense to the observer, and for good reason as this observer in question happened to be not from this world. And at this very moment, he was trying to figure out just what he was going to do now that he was getting into reach of this city.

(Where in the name of the Kami am I?)

Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki had no idea what he was doing here in this world right now and while he was still able to remain hidden while he was in the forest outside of the city. Everything that he was looking at right now was something that he had never seen before and it was something that made the blonde Shinobi from Konoha all the more confused by what he was looking at this very moment.

The blonde looked about and the roads were unlike anything he had seen before in his life, the strange metal looking carts didn't have any horses or people moving them to their destination, and every so often he spotted smoke coming from some sort of pipe that was behind them. There were more of the strange things and they were of different sizes to boot as he looked at the things carefully and tried to make some sense of it all. He had seen some things like those in his travels in the Elemental Countries as well as his trip to Snow/Spring Country but they were nothing like the ones that he was seeing before him right now.

And the buildings…sure the buildings in places like Iwa, Konoha, Suna, and several others were tall, but there were no buildings this size in all of his travels at all and this added even more to the confusion that was hitting the blonde.

He however decided that he might as well go back to his place and try to make some sense on what he was doing here in this world that seemed to defy just about everything that he knew of.

…

In a nearby clearing in the forest…

Naruto sat down in the clearing and managed to calm down and begin to piece together what had happened earlier. He had been on a mission, possibly his last mission for Konoha before he had come here as he began to think on the events.

It had already been three years since he formally handed the title of Hokage to Konohamaru and decided to travel around the Elemental Countries. Most ninja would have been marked as Missing-Nin and hunted down, but he was a special case for a number of reasons. The first was his actions in the Fourth Shinobi War which ended in victory for the Shinobi Alliance and resulted in the defeat of Uchiha Madara, Kabuto Yakushi, and his former friend Sasuke Uchiha. He had managed to accomplish his father's hopes in defeating Madara to save the world and honor his mother Kushina as well, and while he had not killed Sasuke, he had finally put an end to his former friend's plans for revenge.

It had hurt him to know that nothing he could do would change Sasuke and he wished that there was another way, but he was not young anymore, he had grown up and while he did not kill Sasuke, he did not let him win. The power left to him by Itachi proved to be the key to stop Sasuke and when that was over, he advocated full exile for him.

The power given to him by Itachi cancelled out Sasuke's own Eternal Magenkyo Sharingan and this allowed him to blind Sasuke forever, which was why he decided not to kill Sasuke. Sasuke cursed him for this, but he replied that he could handle it, for he was a shinobi and willing to take the pain and the hatred to change the world.

The second was the fact that he was hailed as a hero and savior of the Ninja world and while there had been some resistance to his desire to reform the Shinobi system, the others agreed with him. He rose to heroic status not just in Konoha but in other places as well and as such, his name was recognized literally world wide.

The third was his being the new Hokage, Tsunade formally stepped down from being Hokage months after the end of the war and gave the title to him. That was shocking as by all rights he was still a Genin, but many ninja agreed that he was no longer a Genin in their eyes. His accomplishments and his powers made him Kage material many times over, and while he tried to discount it, many people began to state that he was the Sage of the Six Paths reborn. He took the position and while he admitted that he had no idea how to actually be a Hokage, he was more than willing to learn and do his best, which was why he formally asked Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, and Yamato to be his advisors. Though the last of the Sannin did not like it, she accepted it out of her respect for him…and he was thankful for her advice and that of his new council and his friends.

His reign as Hokage was interesting and while paper work was a pain in the neck for him, he was not going to turn down his responsibilities, and besides his Kage Bushin Jutsu cut down the time he needed for that part of his work. Apart from that he had been working for the restoration and rebuilding of Konoha after the war, and he was pleased in those days to have so many friends in different places in the world. The fact that he was able to have such allies made Konoha a lot stronger politically, diplomatically, and economically. And while there had been battles that he had to be part of, he was more than willing to go all out and do what he could for the people of not just Konoha, but for all the nations which further cemented his legacy as Hokage and earned him the title of the Legendary Orange Hokage, an odd title to be sure, but he did not mind as he had a feeling his father Minato Namikaze and his mother Kushina Uzumaki would have enjoyed it.

And the last was his being the head of the newly revived Uzumaki Clan. When he took the position of Hokage, he had been given the shock of his life when he was informed by Tsunade and Shikaku about the Law regarding clans, namely when only one male heir is left. Tsunade explained that since he was by all rights the last of the fabled Uzumaki Clan, he had a duty to rebuild the clan and that meant being married, and it was recommended that he would be allowed to have more than one wife. That made him blush to the point that he felt like steam was going to come out of his ears, much to the amusement of everyone, he swore that Tsunade seemed to take some slightly perverse pleasure in him being like this and even Kakashi was grinning from ear to ear underneath that darn mask of his.

When that announcement came out into the open about his full lineage, and the events of that night, it unleashed a torrent of changes in Konoha. The ones who had once disliked and hated him were shamed to know that they had spent a good deal of time harming the son of the Fourth Hokage and also the hero of the whole Ninja world. He had spent a large amount of time to assure them all that he had no desire to harm them for what they had done and explained that he had grown up already. He was not the same young boy they knew and he had no hatred in his heart for them, he had made peace with himself and their reasons for hating them. The only thing he wanted from them was to recognize him not as the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, but as a ninja of Konoha and a young man of worth. He wanted them to also recognize him for his own accomplishments and not for the legacy of his father since he was like his father in wanting to succeed through hard work and effort. The villagers were more than happy to do that and were in full support of him.

...

That was also when he had to deal with the fact that he needed to take a wife, or rather several wives in order to found the clan. He did have perverted dreams about being with more than one woman at times, but he was not sure that he was ready for such a thing happening to him in real life, even if it was officially sanctioned by law. He still had feelings for Sakura but was not sure if she felt the same and of course there was the situation between him and Hinata that had not yet been resolved after the Fourth Shinobi War. He recalled her confession to him when she was facing Pain despite the fact that by all rights she had no chance before him, and he was still shocked by it and trying to make sense on how to properly respond to her confession. They were not on bad terms with one another but it was still awkward for him to know that she felt that strongly for him. That was why he decided to take some more time to think about what he was going to do before he made his decision on following this law or not.

After a while he managed to speak to both Hinata and Sakura and it surprised him that Sakura was aware of Hinata's love for him and was actually all right with it. And in turn she spoke that over time she had indeed developed feelings for him as well, wishing to make sure that she did what she could to make up for all that he had done for her as well as try again if he wanted her to do so. This had been a long discussion between the three of them and it was not long before the three came to an agreement to at least take the time to work on their feelings. He got the surprise of his life when they were even willing to share him as well and if he wanted, they were willing to marry him. The idea of being married to the two of them was something that surprised the blonde Hokage and he replied that he needed time to think about going THAT far.

However it was not long before Hinata and Sakura were not the only women who would make that statement to him, Amaru came to him and was there to say that she was willing to marry him as well and help in what he would need in taking care of his people as well himself, along with being a doctor to him. She was also followed by Shion herself as the Priestess/Ruler of the Land of Demons wanted to further ties between her people and Naruto's own people as well as aid him if he needed someone to help him fight any other demons that might rise to be threats to the world, not to mention that she wanted to remind him of his promise to help her pass her powers to a new Priestess. The whole situation was further complicated somewhat by the arrival of Koyuki herself who wanted to cement a more beneficial and permanent alliance with Konoha and the only way to do that was by marriage and it was obvious who she had in mind as her husband, further confounding Naruto. The next shocker was the fact tha the current Mizukag, Mei Terumi was ALSO interested in forging better ties with Konoha, plus seeing him seemed to have gained her interest a great deal, making him shake his head at this. Not to mention the OTHER women from in Fire Country and outside the Elemental Nations as well who came to offer their hands in marriage as well.

He knew that most guys would LOVE this situation, and so was he, but this was too sudden to his liking. The good news was that at least he was given the time to build his relationships with them and that was something he was utterly thankful for. Eventually he began to get used to being around the women who wanted to be with him and developed relationships with them, though the most prominent were with Hinata and Sakura as they were close to him in many ways. His other relationships which were with Koyuki, Mei, Amaru, and Shion also grew over time and for that he was very thankful as it made the whole situation a lot more tolerant to him until it was time for him to get married once he made his choice though he parted in amicable terms with the others who sought him as a husband. The whole affair was celebrated in Konoha as delegates from every corner of the Elemental Nations came to see the event.

After all, it was not every day that the hero of the Ninja world was going to be married...and to women with considerable talents to say the very least. Of course he had to deal with the fact that his male friends were curious about how the wedding night was for him. He was able to keep his trap shut but they had no problems guessing that it was...QUITE the experience for him when he was blushing to the point he would have easily surpassed Hinata in the bushing department. Kakashi was utterly amused and had no problem needling him though in a good way, and even Iruka and Yamato laughed at it while Sai just smiled in his usual fashion, though this time around, the smile was not forced in any possible way and was actually real.

Afterwards, he was now taking his duties very seriously and while there were ages of peace in the land, there were still those who sought to incite war and chaos so his work was hardly over. But with all the support he was getting, he was more than ready and willing to go all out in order to see that such threats would be dealt with through peaceful means before going to force when all else failed. Not to mention his wives were more than willing to teach him a number of skills and techniques to help him if there was a chance that they could not be by his side. And he finally felt the same joy he had seen his father Minato had when he was born when he also saw his children being born.

It was sad to him that neither his parents were able to see him finally have children, he could easily guess that his mother Kushina would have lovingly dotted on her grand children while his father Minato would take pride in training them in his free time and when he was not busy. But he had no doubt in his mind that they were watching him in the afterlife, and no doubt his sensei the Pervy Sage Jiraiya was enjoying it as well. There was no doubt in his mind that the white haired perverted ninja would have written a whole library worth of smut after what he had seen as well. He also took to heart that his children would be another reason along with so many other youths for him to defend Konoha for as long as he could and be able to. And he in turn would defend his grandchildren when they too would be born.

...

But like anything else, there was a bad side to things, namely in his Uzumaki heritage...he aged slower than the women he married and due to that bloodline from his mother, it was hard for him to know that he was not going to be able to grow old with them, even more so with the Kyuubi's purified chakra giving him a very high healing factor that made him heal faster and better, this made him become a living symbol of the name of the Uzumaki Clan. Initially he was able to deal with it, but it was not long before it was going to be painful for him as he knew that his loved ones would pass on long before he would. Sakura and the others understood it and did their best to assure him that they did not have any problems with it, but they did insist to him that he should not burden himself if they passed away while he was still alive, and live to enjoy the world.

He promised them that but it was not easy for him in any sense as he had done so much and he was not afraid to die, he was even interested to finally meet his parents and even the Pervy Sage along with the Third Hokage. To know that it would be a long time before he himself reached his end was hard to accept at times, and the following deaths were hard on him. First was Tsunade who passed on after so many years though she died with a smile on her face and being surrounded by his children and grandchildren who she had become a godmother and great godmother to. She was soon joined by Shizune who had at least been able to marry and to Iruka no less who also joined her in death, succeeded by their own children. Both were truly important to him as Shizune was like a big sister to him and a god-aunt to his children and grand children, and Iruka was like his big brother/father figure.

Kakashi himself finally passed on as well, though he had at least been married to Ayame and had two children who now served as Jonin and they too had grand children who were going to be great ninja as well, like their grandfather. He honored his former teacher and placed his name alongside his own teammates and their Jonin sensei, his father, and he made sure that Ayame's own funeral was well planned out as she and her also long dead father were two more people he loved and treasured in life.

His own classmates were also long gone though they too lived good lives which was why he was able to deal with their passing on though it was hardly a simple affair.

Ino and Sai passed on though they were married and had children when they died. It still amazed him that they were even married and Sai admitted that being married to Ino was interesting to say the least. He was proud that their children were doing their parents proud and so did their grandchildren. He had no idea just how the two even managed to finally tie the knot, but he also knew that Ino was happy and Sai was being genuine about being married to her.

Neji and Tenten were also married, something that he found rather funny when he was told of their engagement. he had a feeling that sooner or later, Tenten's support for Neji was going to turn romantic at some point and time. And he was not alone either as Hinata used to tell him that her cousin thought of his team mate a lot more than he used to after the war. They too passed away together and he made sure that both were buried side by side since they had been working well as a team both in the battlefield and out of it.

Shikamaru finally got out and married Temari as well and for that he was utterly amused, considering Temari's bossy nature and Shikamaru's dislike for bossy women. But at least despite their differences, they did get along and at least his lazy team-mate finally managed to win Kankuro and Gaara's approval of him marrying their sister. Most guys steered clear of Temari due to her brothers but Shikamaru finally managed to win their support and despite his worries, he discovered that his dad was right about women being different with their loved ones. He and Gaara were the ones to oversee the funeral respectively and it was a hard thing to do.

Rock Lee managed to finally be a Jonin and rise to the same level of his sensei Gai at his prime as well, this was something that Gai was proud of. And to the amusement of everyone. even Kurenai Lee was able to finally meet the love of his life. Yakumo herself had spent time with Lee and while she could not be a ninja alongside him, she proved to be a person who Lee cared deeply about. Lee loved Yakumo and she had those very same feelings as well and they were able to have some children of their own and Yakumo was able to see them all grow to adulthood despite the weakness of her body. In the end thoug, Yakumo died due to her frail form, but she was happy to be with Lee and Lee himself was happy to be with her. When she died years afterwards, Lee honored her by training their children who thankfully were as healthy as he was to be ninja. Lee himself died in battle but died with a smile saving his children from a force of ninja trying to kill them. He personally carried Lee back to Konoha and buried him alongside his team as well as his wife who had been welcomed by Neji and Tenten as well.

Chouji himself eventually found a wife and the woman was a Kunoichi by the name Suza from Suna as well who proved that evewn those guys who were big boned as Chouji preferred to call it could get married. Suza was a very attractive woman but appeared to like Chouji a great deal and was not the least bit bothered by his size, much to the surprise of Ino and Shikamaru. They had several children and she was welcomed warmly by Chouji's parents when they finally met her. Even he was surprised at the good fortune that hit Chouji and not a day went by that he recalled laughing with Chouji about it all. And it was therefore hard for Chouji when Suza passed away after so many years together, but he manned up and became a good father to their children and then a grand father to their grand children and he was buried next to Suza when he too passed away but not before doing the same ceremony for his family heiress, their first born daughter Chouna.

Kiba and Akamaru eventually found their own mates, with Kiba actually getting along with the Kumo Kunoichi Karui though how that ever happened, he could never understand, and Akamaru finally being able to find a mate in a female canine named Kuromaru. Akamaru had a number of pups and Kiba as well as Karui had several children with Karui being able to be in Konoha and Kumo. They too eventually were buried with Kiba and Akamaru being the first with Karui and Kuromaru joining them. He personally oversaw the funeral as well to make sure that his friends and their mates would be remembered for all they had done in and after the Fourth Shinobi War.

Shino eventually had married as well with a member of the Hyuuga branch family, a Kunoichi named Aya who was a distant cousin of Neji who idolized her cousin and proved as capable as Neji and Hinata though not as stern. It amazed everyone, even Neji and Hinata that Shino would find a partner, but they congratulated him and he thanked them in his own way. They have three sons and four daughters, with the boys able to use the Byakugan and the girls being able to use the Aburame Clan's special beetles without any problems. Shino and Aya were proud of their children and they too had given their lives in the end to safeguard the future of their children in a battle that they took part in years into his reign as Hokage.

Gaara himself met his end as he died serving Suna after passing the title of Kazekage to his own daughter with Matsuri, he and Gaara were always friends and he was proud that Gaara rose to being the beloved Kazekage, and he privately thanked Matsuri for being there for Gaara. They both died in service to Suna and befitting their time together, they were buried side by side and he personally made a statue of him and Gaara shaking hands, a show of his eternal friendship with Gaara, and this was retained by Gaara's family and his own as a symbol of unity between Konoha and Suna.

...

Then his wives finally reached their ends as well... with Sakura being the first to pass on after so many years of them being together. His former team mate was still beautiful even when she was as old as Tsunade when he first met the blonde Sannin and he was happy that they had finally been able to be together and live as husband and wife after all that they had been through. They shared one last meal together and went to the training field they were in long ago. They spent the night there together talking about everything that happened to them, the most important was how they finally were able to fall in love with one another despite their history and how she had been to him in the past, to which he replied that it was not a problem anymore and he would love her either way, much to her happiness. The next day, she passed on with a smile on her face as they sat there in the field and he gave her a tearful farewell and when she was buried, he placed a bouquet of sakura blossoms on her grave to honor her and her namesake.

Hinata soon followed two years after Sakura, and like Sakura, they spent time together before she passed away peacefully in her sleep. They traveled to the places they had been to in their youth, and to the places they had been to when they began to date after he had become Hokage. One such place was the very same waterfall when he had actually seen her before but had not recognized her. She blushed at the memories of it and how she felt when he found out. As soon as they got back to Konoha, the two of them spent one last night chatting with their children and grand children and how much faith they had for them. And they also spoke about how things turned out with him still amazed at his discovery of her love for him when they were young and his apology for not being able to see it. She smiled and replied that he did not need to apologize to her. Hinata then passed away the very next day and like Sakura, he made sure to place her favorite flowers on her grave.

Amaru was the next to pass away from a sickness she suffered while serving as a field doctor for victims in a border conflict, but she carried on doing what she loved to do and served the people as best she could. He was proud of her even though it hurt him to know that she was soon going to pass away as she had truly become someone he respected and loved for her devotion to saving lives without medical jutsu. She served Konoha by teaching Medic-nin how to still save lives should their chakra be too low for jutsu and also taught him some of her own skills in medicine. They traveled to her home and there she spent her last days healing and tending the sick there before going back to Konoha and teaching her graduating class of Medic-nin. Afterwards, they talked about how they met and how he had been a positive influence on her in the end. As she died of the sickness, he made sure that she was properly buried and placed her favored scalpel on her grave while keeping the medical sachet she made for him to use for himself or others.

Shion herself passed on after leaving behind the title of Priestess long ago to her first daughter who succeeded her, she continued to use her power to help seal away evil spirits and demons should the return with Naruto alongside her. Eventually her actions cost her as her powers drained her and she died, but not before she and him traveled to the same place where he had vowed to help her pass her powers to the next Priestess. She also had helped in training him some new sealing Jutsu that would use his chakra in conjunction with the sealing Jutsu techniques he learned from the salvaged Uzumaki Clan records that he was able to find after learning more of his mother's clan. Shion and him spent time together in that place and she too was still beautiful even in old age as she passed away with a smile on her face. She gave him her pin and a good portion of her powers and soul in it,which was why he never left it behind.

Koyuki herself met her end after many years of them being together, she worked hard to be Queen of Snow/Spring Country as well as wife to the Hokage of Konoha and a world famous actress. It amazed him that she had so much stamina and energy as well since in that span of time she also juggled being a mother to six active boys and four girls and also perfecting the generator that her father left under her care and becoming a beloved and respected ruler in the lands beyond her home. In time however, the strain took it's toll on her and she had to eventually retire from being an actress as time passed until she gave the throne to their first born son and she spent time with him and even enjoying gardening with him. When she passed away, he made sure to play her movies both old and new and placing the same necklace she wore on her grave as his tribute to his favorite actress, princess, and wife. he also took the swords she had made for him as a present for their wedding and he treasured them and stored them in a scroll to be used in battle if needed.

Mei herself eventually passed away many years after she gave up her position as Mizukage and gave it to their daughter who was able to have her Kekkai Genkai as well as the Uzumaki Clan's long life and vitality. She was still powerful and strong and their marriage helped ensure peaceful relations between their respective homes. Their relationship was dynamic in many ways as Mei was not like most women he had met though in time he grew to love the beautiful Kunoichi and she in turn loved him in her own fashion, and was happy to see that despite still being a Jinchuuriki, he would never lose himself to sadness and despair. They fought side by side many times and their times together were...very interesting. He personally assured her that she was never going to be forgotten and he made sure of that by having a statue of her and him in her home village to show the unity between them respective homes. On her grave he made sure to leave behind her favorite things as well as a carved statue of her face in her youth as well.

...

The deaths of his friends, and loved ones were hard on him but he soldiered on to rule Konoha but he soon passed the position of Hokage to Konohamaru and lived as an adviser to his former student/friend/rival. In time however he felt that his time was over and he had accomplished all that he had dreamed of ever since he was young, he felt that it would be better that he would others go on with their lives. There was still much his world had to offer and there was no sense that he could not go out and see what was beyond the Elemental Nations. His time with Temujin proved that the world was vast and seeing it all was an adventure in itself and he wanted an adventure.

That was why he decided to leave Konoha and allow the younger generation to lead this time, and also he was going to see the world and the people he had helped protect from Madara and his mad plans of world conquest and control. That had not been easy to do, but the villagers agreed and so did the rest of the ninjas of Konoha as well as the younger generations of his clan. He gave his final words of advice to Konohamaru and also to the head of the clan and after taking all he needed, he was on his way, but not before leaving behind a message that if Konoha ever needed his aid, then they can call on him to come and help them.

His travels took him to many places and in them he met many different kinds of people, some were good people, others were dangerous and not to be trusted, some were trying to survive and needed help. The time he spent was not just traveling and seeing the sights that were there to see though, he decided to take the time to write his memoirs and also continue writing the novel series started by his godfather to honor him and earn money along the way. Even though he had QUITE the inheritance left behind by his parents and more, he wanted to earn everything by hard work and determination, and he did so and that felt very good to him in more ways than one.

It was not long before he was found by Konoha ninja once again, they greeted him and even bowed but he never wanted that and told them that despite his status, he was still a human and wished to be treated as such. The ANBU nodded and apologized as they explained that in the years following his absence, his reputation grew to near saintly proportions and his family was doing well which was why he was treated with such respect. He learned of a powerful device...a chakra weapon that had been stolen and was going to be used by a rogue force of ninja who wished to start a new ninja village with those who desired to return to the old ways and meant to attack Konoha itself to bring down the village.

He did not wish that and he placed aside his wandering days to help his village once more...they tracked down the rogue forces and while he was able to convince some to surrender, the others did not. This forced him to fight and showing his abilities in combat once more, which had not dulled in the slightest even after years of travel around the world. However, the leader, a ninja named Karuda defied him despite his own respect for Naruto and revealed that he had activated the weapon already and soon it would be unleashed on Konoha. The weapon was like a cannon shell and would instantly destroy Konoha in the same way Pain had done before as it left the base. He would never let that happen after all that he had accomplished and what so many had fought and died for, he intercepted the weapon with the same technique of his father and managed to use the same jutsu to move the weapon. But it detonated just as he used the jutsu...All he knew was that he had stopped it before it reached Konoha and all he saw was white...and he thought that he was finally going to die. He was not afraid as he had done everything and even though the Kyuubi told him to escape, he did not as he would be able to see his loved ones again.

But instead...he did not die as soon as the light faded away...

...

And now here he was...in a world that made no sense to him in any possible fashion...

Naruto knew that staying here was not going to be a good thing to say the very least, he had to find a good place to hide and gather more information about where he was at this time. Nothing was familiar to him and there seemed to be a lot of noises and sights so he had to be careful. The first order of business he had to do was to find some way to blend it, and he doubted that his clothes that he usually wore were going to do him any good in this place that he now happened to be in at this time. With that in mind, he decided to get to using his Jutsu. He turned and spotted a man who looked fairly well dressed and saw that he was able to blend in well enough. With that in mind, Naruto used that technique that he recalled very well.

"HENGE!"

Once he was done, he went out to see what he could learn from this world that he was in. Thankfully it seemed that the Henge was going to be able to do it and he was soon milling around in the crowds. The people were different than what he was used to, some of them dressed in fashions that he recognized, while the others were completely different as well. There were people who had different complexions and hair color as well as them speaking in a language that was unknown to the blonde Shinobi. This prompted him to do what he could to find out just what sort of language they happened to be speaking in but there was also a part of him that wished that there was someone who could speak his language.

It was not long before he found himself going into an area of this city that seemed a lot...different than the ones he had seen and a lot more familiar. At least familiar to a certain extent as he moved around, and the people looked familiar to him as well, it was here that his nose picked up a VERY familiar smell.

(Ramen! YES!)

The blonde Shinobi quickly homed in on the smell and sure enough, he was able to see the place of origin of the smell and saw that while it was not like the ramen stand he frequented all his life, it had a roomy and calm atmosphere. He opened the door to find that there were only a few customers there and the cook was a middle aged but kind looking woman. The cook turned and gave him a smile and spoke to him, but in the same language as everyone he met. Naruto frowned at that and decided to speak in his language.

"I can't understand what you are saying."

The woman looked at him in surprise and then spoke in a different language, one that he quickly recognized.

"Oh my! A foreigner who speaks only Japanese?"

"Huh? What do you mean by Japanese?"

...

Weeks later...

The woman's name was Natsume Oyama and she was the head chef of this ramen restaurant that her family owned for a number of years in the city that was known as Los Angeles. Her family had moved from their homeland of Japan years before as immigrants. Though Naruto had no idea why they would move away from this...Japan place, he was not going to comment until he knew more. he had grown up enough to know that until he got all the needed information, making assumptions was asking for trouble. It took a while before Natsume agreed to hire him as a worker in her place though this required him to be in Henge though he was able to wear clothes that showed that he worked there. Some of the other workers were not too happy at him coming but after a few weeks, he became a good friend to them. It made it easier that they spoke the same language though they did comment on Naruto's...dialect on more than one instance.

He did give a cover story that his real parents had died while in Japan and he was raised by his adopted parents in a mountain village and only recently had he been able to go to this place in the...US as it was call. he was here to try and find his birth relatives as well as rediscover his past identity, but had been so used to living in his mountain village that he was unsure about the customs of the US people. It was all a convenient lie of course but Naruto knew that it had to be done, even if Konoha, the other Hidden Villages, or the Elemental Nations did not exist here, that did not mean he would speak it out. Besides, if Natsume and the others found out that he came from a village of ninjas and all of his past deeds, they would have called him nuts. Natsume was nice enough to help pay him and explained all that he needed to know about this place called the US, their currency, their customs, and more though she pointed out that there was more to learn about the land than just from her.

That was why she brought him some old books and magazines, and while he disliked reading too many things, the now mature ninja knew better than to scoff at information. He was able to use his Kage Bushin to even up the odds in reading time and soon learned quite a lot about this land, namely the language which he began to practice along with Natusme and the others in the ramen restaurant. He also learned about these people who called themselves...heroes. The most recognized as far as he had seen were these two, the one in the city of Metropolis named Superman and the other from the city of Gotham named Batman.

He had to admit that it was strange to see these...heroes, Superman was an incredible sight considering what he was able to do with all those powers of his, and the blonde Shinobi had no doubt on his mind that if this Superman was in his world, he would have really gotten the attention of the ladies, ala Sasuke, and eventually him as well. Still the man was rather nice though the incident with this...Darkseid character left a bad mark on him. But it seemed that he had spent a great deal of time clearing up his name, something that Naruto could respect as it mirrored his own efforts in his youth to be freed from the stigma of being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.

Batman was similar to a ninja, judging from his garb and the way he moved even if they were just images, Naruto had seen plenty of ninjas in action on his side and that of others to know how a ninja moved. Batman was certainly living up to the name but Naruto was sure that there was more to this masked vigilante as he was called by the media. He could see from the face that this man suffered something tragic, possibly when he was young to have made him become like this. It was reminding him badly of Sasuke but unlike his former team mate and friend, he has not gone off and killed people for it, Naruto also had to admit that the gadgets he had with him were interesting and would have really been useful had they been in Konoha or any of the other villages.

After a while, he had earned enough money and learned enough that he bid farewell to Natsume and her family as well as her staff and decided to go out and find a place of his own to live in. He knew that he did not have a lot of money with him so he would have to find another source of income at some point in time. Naruto managed to find it when he was able to compete in a lottery. The luck of the devil that Tsunade had told him that he had was more than enough to make him the lottery well enough and had allowed him to win a sizable amount of money, just enough for a number of months and after a while he was able to find a place to stay. It was a load better than his old apartment and was more around the lines of the Hokage residence that he called home when he took office. And after getting the place while in his real form, he was able to get some peace though he knew that he was going to have to find some means of income. Naruto had learned long ago as a kid how important it was to save and use his money well so he was going to do the same here in this reality that he was in.

And already he had an idea on how to put his non ninja skills to the use of making sure that he had money of his own.

…

A night later...

Naruto looked over his apartment and was in his ninja garb as he now began to call it, he wore his usual style of clothes and had his red coat on him with the kanji for Fire Shadow on it, he also wore a mask that was like that of a fox but had only the lower half of his face shown with his forehead protector there above it as well. The mask was specially made from ceramic and was chakra reinforced so it would not be broken easily and could only be removed if he removed the invisible chakra strings that held it in place. He also happened to have his vest on and he had his supplies to boot as well if he needed them. On his back were his swords, his supply pouch was on his back, and on his thighs where his kunai holsters which were naturally loaded. This was going to be the first time that he was going to go into Los Angeles in disguise and his ninja garb as well. he had no doubt that this was going to be different from what he was used to but he was all right with it as this was something he was interested in doing ever since he got into the city.

The apartment was not too far from the city and was not filled with people so he doubted that anyone was there to see him and it was at least four stories up without any other building nearby. He might not have any furniture of his own at the moment, but once he found a way to get his own money, that can be solved. With that in mind he left behind a Kage Bushin to manage the place while he was gone and help make sure that anyone coming around would think that he was not going anywhere and was staying home.

As he left the place he was able to use another addition to his arsenal which was kunai armed with specially made climbing cable reinforced with chakra, this way he could move about as if moving on ropes while using his abilities to walk on surfaces once he reached them. Any distance that he could reach with leaping he was able to tackle well enough while looking around the city while using his chakra to hold on to the surfaces. The blonde had to admit that a place like this was certainly different at night but he had no doubt that it had it's share of troubles, even Konoha had it's share of troubles under his watch and he had no doubts in his mind that the same could be said for Los Angeles. The crimes that happened here might not be in the same way as those in his reality, but they came fairly close and Naruto was sure that he was going to run into some of those said crimes soon enough.

...

And he was right on the money for at the very moment he was in the city, he spotted something and what he saw was more than enough to get him angry and heading in that direction.

...

In an alleyway...

"No! Leave me alone!"

A pretty redhead was trying to keep away several thugs from getting closer to her, she was trying to keep herself calm at this moment but she was terrified right had just left her place earlier in the afternoon to pick up some books from her friends, but they had gone to a nearby coffee shop for a drink and some time for themselves, and it was now late in the night that she was going home. Her senses were on alert as she moved through the way but she was soon able to see the men following her. She was shocked by this and tried to lose them by running and getting home, but they were not going to let her get away. She had no other weapon with her, not even a can of mace or anything, so she ran, but sadly due to her panic she had made a wrong turn in the alley ways and now here she was.

One of the men grinned lecherously at the young woman and spoke in a very cocky tone.

"Now why would we do that missy? We're just in the mood for some fun...plus some cash if you have any that is."

The young woman reached into her purse and took out the money from her wallet, it was her hard earned money from her part time job and she was saving it all for a chance to find work and it was hard to part with all of it. But no amount of money was worth her life as she tossed it to them while it was still in the money clip, once it was there before the thugs, she prayed that they would leave her alone, though she doubted that.

"Here! That's all I have, please take it and leave me alone!"

The leader of the punks took the money and counted it with a grin on his face and the same could be said for the rest of his followers, but any hope the young redhead had of being left alone was dashed to pieces when they continued to close in on her.

The leader took out a wicked knife and spoke to her once more.

"Not bad, you've gotten some nice dough on you...now let's see if the rest of you is just as good eh?"

The redhead tried to get away but her escape was cut off when one of the thugs intercepted her and pushed her back, she fell on the ground and tried to recover herself and managed to kick away the punk who tried to get to her, he groaned from the kick to his stomach but he was not deterred by that. He and his buddies had her surrounded and there was no escape for her. They finally got some money and they were now going to have some fun, the lady was very good looking and had a nice figure to boot. No one was going to save her, not like in Metropolis or Gotham,or anywhere else that had those costumed heroes. Los Angeles had none of their own and that was good for them in every sense of the work.

However, that idea was soon sent down the crapper as the punk was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when something suddenly wrapped around him and before he could ask what was that, he screamed when he was suddenly lifted into the air. The other punks and their intended victim were stunned by that as the group tried to look for their companion with the leader shouting out.

"What the fuck happened?"

Another punk shouted out but this time in pain as he was clutching his legs, both of them and he saw two large double pointed needles in his thighs and his legs were bleeding, but he could not move as he felt himself becoming numb. He however managed to spot something nearby and pointed to the wall, his companions turned to look but saw nothing. They were able to turn back to their wounded companion and were about to ask what the hell he was pointing at but they got their answer when they saw another figure behind their companion...who now dropped face first into the ground unconscious. They were now facing Naruto who glared darkly at them. The woman was stunned at what she was seeing and so were the punks until the leader spoke out in a cocky but angry tone.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Naruto said nothing at first but then replied.

"The name's not important right now...what I am going to do to lowlifes like you and your loser friends is what you should be concerned about."

"Oh yeah? You some sort of nutjob in a costume who thinks he can be a hero? What are you going to do to us anyway?"

Naruto glared even more and decided to end the taunting and replied.

"You guys are so pathetic to actually be ganging up on a woman like this. Are you losers so disgusting that you can't even afford cheap dates?"

That infuriated the group of punks and the leader made that obvious as he struck first.

"Shut up! I am going to mess you up right now freak!"

Bad move...

...

Naruto was not impressed, this guy was moving too slow to be even a threat as he casually dodged the strike from the guy's knife and he avoided the rest, without moving at all from his current position. He then lashed out with a powerful kick that sent the man flying back and hitting the ground hard and skidding away until he collided with a trashcan. The other punks were stunned by that and that was the opening that the blonde Shinobi was waiting for as he quickly charged in. The punks only saw a brief flash of his yellow hair as he unleashed a world of pain on them. The punk nearest him was introduced to the blonde's elbow strike to the stomach that sent him crashing down hard in pain, as Naruto used his back as spring board to land two kicks into the face of two other punks that sent them flying back. One of the punks managed to recover from the shock and tried to blindside the blonde, but got nowhere as Naruto was quickly able to dodge his attacks and appear behind him and land a punch the second he turned that sent him down.

The blond evaded another punk armed with a chain, but he caught it and used his strength to yank the guy forward and used his arm in the same way as Kirabi and A did though he used no chakra or element in that attack as the punk was too weak to use it on to begin with. The man was sent to the ground hard as Naruto quickly flipped forward and introduced his feet to the chin of the next one as he used his hands to lift himself up like a rocket from the ground. He then lashed out with a spinning kick in mid air to send another punk flying as he struck him right at the head. As he landed, he spun around to avoid the nest one who was armed with a broken bottle intent on stabbing him in the back. The fool moved past Naruto and the blonde introduced his him to the ground with a sweep kick followed by an elbow strike to the back of the head.

He then turned and introduced a series of finger strikes on the next attacker, hitting in spots he knew would work to stop the man cold and used full blown fists on the next attacker while the first was frozen stiff. The blonde then used his knees to strike at the second attacker and finished off the two of them with powerful kicks that sent them going off to lala land. The former Konoha Hokage and Shinobi looked to see that the punks who attacked him were all out cold. They were all unaware that he had not used his full strength on them as doing so would have either crippled them or killed them outright and he was not in the mood for that since they were not true threats. But a shout of fear got his attention and he turned to see that the leader had somehow managed to get hold of the young woman and had his knife by the throat. By now however the man was in a panic and tried to find a way out of this mess.

"You let me leave right now! Or else the bitch gets her throat cut!"

Naruto glared darkly at the armed man who held the woman by the throat with a knife and spoke in the coldest tone he could muster.

"Harm even an inch of her…and you're life ends here and now."

The thug saw somethinng in the masked man's eyes that told him that this was no idle threat and that shocked him as he began to feel a great deal of fear in himself. With that fear growing by the second, he finally relented and dropped the knife that he had on the young woman's throat.

"All right man...she's all right...see? Are we cool?"

Naruto said nothing but he reacted as he charged at only a quarter of his already impressive speed speed and that was enough as he quickly grabbed the punk and tossed him over the woman he had held hostage and smashed him to the ground while disarming him of the knife. The shock of it was more obvious to the young woman but Naruto expected that and calmly relaxed himself as he searched the lead punk and found the young woman's money. he took that and offered it to her while speaking in his most calm and friendly tone.

"Here you are Miss, I believe this is yours?"

The young woman looked at Naruto and as soon as she realized that he was not going to harm her, she reached out and took her money. She felt instant relief as she realized she had just been saved from not just being robbed,but far worse as well. She broke into tears and nearly collapsed but Naruto quickly saved her and spoke to her.

"Are you all right?"

"I...I just...I just realized you saved me not from just being...robbed...but...oh my God, what they could have done before you came along..."

Naruto said nothing as he allowed the woman to cry so she would get the emotions out, he glared darkly at the punks and wished he could have really given them a serious beating, but he was not going to do that before a woman who was by rights a civilian. As soon as he felt that she was all right, he turned to her and spoke once more as she wiped away her tears.

"You feeling better?"

"Y-Yeah...thanks again, I'll call the cops and tell them everything that happened here...thanks for saving me..."

"Anytime Miss..."

"Oh! Sorry about that! My name is Eleanor, Eleanor Riley, most of my friends call me Elly for short."

"Elly? Nice name, fits such a pretty lady."

Elly smiled a bit and had to admit that her rescuer felt...nice. She watched him move away and to her amazement began to walk up the walls as if it was nothing to him at all. She had heard about some heroes being able to do that, but she had never seen it done before in front of her. She then realized that she had not gotten his name.

"Wait! Who are you?"

Naruto turned to face her and after a moment or two of thinking, he replied.

"You can call me...Fire Shadow, or in another language, Hokage."

With that, Naruto moved up the wall and soon disappeared, and that was enough for Elly to call the police...he had a lot to tell her parents and friends about what had just happened to her. As for Naruto, he had not gotten too far when he felt his danger senses kick in and he moved quickly

...

On the road...

The gun battle that was raging in the streets was getting fiercer by the second as Naruto finally arrived at the sounds that were in the area. He looked to see a number of cars in black and white with flashing blue and red lights. his reading of Natsume's materials told him that these were cars owned by the Police, a sort of government sponsored civilian peace keeping force and not part of the military. he saw that their situation was not too good and while he would have just let them handle it, the sight of several wounded police officers and civilians brought back images of the battles he had been in. The battle with Pain/Nagato and the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi War came back to him and that was enough to make him move fast.

The robbers were armed with high caliber weapons and the police were still not able to do much until SWAT arrived as their weapons were not doing well since the robbers had high grade body armor on them. Things looked very grim as several of their comrades and some of the civilians nearby were wounded and paramedics were there but with the bullets flying about they couldn't move to help the wounded, this was how bad it was and the police had a hell of a time trying to keep the media from getting hit as well.

They were about to get some help as some of the robbers who were reaching for their clips suddenly were unaware of a strange knife shaped object land in their group. They were not going to be unaware for long as someone suddenly attacked them from behind. A few of them were sent flyng backwards and the others turned to see a strangely dressed guy appear in their midst and apparently armed with a pair of short knives. They turned to try and deal with him but they were in for the shock of their lives as the man moved too fast for them to get a good lock on him. Naruto was not going to let them get a chance as their weapons reminded him of the kunai spewing weapons of the Sky Ninja that attacked his village a long time ago, though these were a lot more dangerous than those were.

Several of the robbers were badly injured as Naruto quickly used his Wind Chakra to amplify the cutting force of his weapons and also he used his strength to a slightly higher degree to hit his targets. The kunai's amplified cutting force allowed Naruto to cut through their weapons and body armor easly,m wounding them but not killing them outright as he wanted to let the police handle that as this was still their job, but if he could keep these robbers from harming more people then all the better. he then placed aside his kunai and switched to his swords and with the training he got from his old friend Kirabi he was doing a very good number on his foes right now.

Already the results of the blonde's rescue were obvious as the paramedics were able to get to the wounded and treat them while the more critical ones were evacuated when SWAT arrived. The police were not shooting as they were not willing to risk hitting the one who had just came in to help them. And the media themselves were now trying to record what was going on before them as the new person was helping the police. Naruto himself noted that and decided to end it quickly as he cut through the weapons of his attackers and used his Taijutsu to even up the odds in the battle. he placed aside one of his swords and took his special kunai and placed it back as the last of the robbers fell down to the ground, his shotgun cut in half and him out cold.

The scene might have seemed peaceful had it not been for the now incoming armored truck that was being driven by one of the robbers. Apparently he and his posse had planned to use the armored truck as an escape method once they were able to take it from the bank's garage as this bank happened to have one in said garage. He was about to meet up with the other when he spotted from the TV what was going on. And now he apparently wanted to run down the one who had made him and his crew miss out on what would have been a very sweet score that would have been the start of a career as they would use the money to pay for more powerful weapons and equipment to rob even more banks not just in LA but elsewhere as well in the US, with the exception of the cities that had those cape wearing heroes in them.

And now it was ruined by this new guy and he planned to reduce the blonde into a pile of bloody, messed up to hell road kill.

Not that Naruto was going to let that happen as he placed aside his sword.

Naruto glared at the truck driver as he readied his technique to stop the last thief dead in his tracks, he summoned his chakra and soon formed a sphere of pure energy,which surprised just about everyone in the area. He then slammed the Rasengan right into the front of the vehicle and focused his chakra into his feet to hold him into place.

"RASENGAN!"

The result was explosive as the Rasengan slammed hard into the vehicle's armored front, and with Naruto's much stronger chakra reserves behind it and his refined control abilities now at the forefront, it was going to be explosive indeed. the truck stopped with a roar of metal as it was lifted off it's feet briefly before the metal buckled hard and began to warp and crack on impact. The vehicle hit the ground as it's engine was completely mangled by the impact force alone. The driver was not thrown out of the vehicle due to wearing his seat belt, but the results were just as surprising for him as he gasped in horror from the impact force and from the landing as his vehicle hit the ground with the armored skin in the front cracked and bent. he didn't have time to react as Naruto moved to the driver's side and used his Wind Chakra to cut through the door and toss it aside and he cut him loose from the seat belt and to the ground to the police.

The police and the media looked on in shock as the battle was over and the blonde Shinobi turned and gave them a smile and bowed, he flicked his hand up to a building and all they saw afterwards was a flash of yellow as the man...disappeared. They looked around but found no trace of him and thus they began to try and piece together what had just happened right in front of them.

As for Naruto, he was already a block or two away from the whole scene as he held his father's Hirashin kunai in hand, he had learned about it from Kakashi years ago and after years of hard work and due diligence which Sakura herself had told him he should have when they were kids, he was able to succeed and make his own. It was hard work but it was worth it and his old man would have been proud of him as well. He sighed and had a feeling that sooner or later, he was going to be in for the long haul. No doubt the very second the Kyuubi and him talked about it, that demonic fox was going to ride his case as Natsume put it once.

He moved away from the scene and headed home, just as the night was soon going to be drenched in rain.

...

In the Daily Planet the next day...

As the day went on in the Daily Planet, several of the reporters were currently listening into the news, namely that from the city of Angels. The video was from last night and had only one topic in mind.

"...a violent shootout between a number of bank robbers and the LAPD was brought to a swift resolution last night when an unknown figure appeared and fought with the bank robbers. The figure was dressed in black and orange and wore what appeared to be a short sleeved long coat of red with black flames with some sort of Japanese writing on it which our analysts have translated to mean Fire Shadow or in this case, Hokage."

The images showed Naruto's battles with the thugs and how he had stopped the truck bearing down on him, much to the interest of the reporters, some of whom included Jimmy Olsen, Angela Chen, and the recently arriving Lois Lane and one Clark Kent. They were all watching as the blonde Hokage's Rasengan smashed the front of the truck hard and they also watched as he yanked away the door and had the driver down as he joined his already unconscious friends.

"He then used some sort of energy sphere to stop the vehicle cold and soon faded away before he would be interviewed. So far all attempts to locate this Hokage as he is no doubt becoming known as, have not succeeded. Though in another story a young woman named Eleanor Riley had met the Hokage as she had apparently been saved by the Hokage from a band of thugs who had tried to rob her as well as violate her. he arrived and beat them before things could have escalated and Miss Riley had only good things to say about the Hokage after he had saved her."

As the interview of Riley came to a close as the punks were being arrested by the police, the reporter then spoke.

"In this reporter's humble opinion, this is a blessing thus far, for years the city of Los Angeles has no super hero or heroine to it's people in the same way as Metropolis as Superman, or as Gotham has Batman. Only time will tell how this new addition to the city of Angels with fare, but for today from TV8 News, this is Dana Carmichael bidding you a good day and to you Hokage, a warm welcome to the City of Angels."

Lois smiled a bit and turned to Clark and spoke.

"Looks like Superman and Batman are not going to be alone, what do you think of this new kid on the block Smallville?"

"I am not sure yet Lois, but he's certainly a skilled fighter."

Jimmy nodded and replied.

"Yeah, and he looks rather young, many late teens or early twenties, kind of like Supergirl I guess. Still it is kind of good to know that we have a new hero to the ranks."

Clark nodded though he still looked at the image.

(Who are you?)

Clark had a feeling that he was not the only one who was asking that very same question as well. No doubt Bruce and the others of his family would be curious as well who this new face was and no doubt Bruce would be very critical of this new youngster. And Clark had a feeling that he was going to run into this Hokage at some point in time, he was not sure when but if there was one thing he knew that he could count on, is that his gut feeling was right on the money.

The world of heroes has just gotten bigger...

...

To be continued...

...

Author's Notes:

There we go, the challenge of me making a Naruto/Justice League crossover is now finished and I hope that the reader who came to me and gave me this challenge is happy that I was now able to do what he/she wished. Sorry if I cannot recall the name, but it had been some time since I heard from him or her so I hope that seeing this in my collection is enough for now. I will be updating this story along with my other works though this will be at a much later date than the others since I did plan to work on my older fics before my more recent ones.

I promised not to make new stories but decided that it was better to do this since I am going to be freezing my Halo stories anyway and some new blood was in order. And since the chapters for G.I Joe Halo and WOW Halo are already in production with the former nearly complete and the same could be said for the latter, I feel confident about doing this though it will not be updated while I update my older works since I have a slew of new ideas for my older works and some of them will be ending soon so I will focus on them first.

And yes, I will also be working on my lemon stories for those who have been waiting for a while for me to do just that so don't ask me about them already.

...

Now if you want to know if I will pair Naruto with Wonder Woman, the answer is not yet, I have plans of my own and while Wonder Woman is indeed a possible choice there are others. But I will follow the path of my Halo story, Lois Lane is off limits, so is Black Canary (Damn it), Huntress (Double Damn), and the same goes for Hawkgirl since they have their own partners.

There might be a harem idea in the relationship department since I am planning to go back to that genre, but I will still like it if I take the time to make the relationships work. Remember that in this story, Naruto is not able to die of old age due to his Uzumaki heritage and the Kyuubi's healing chakra adds to that so he looks to be around his late teens to early twenties but in reality is already in or past his sixties or nearing his seventies so he is actually a load older than most.

He is not immortal in any sense, he can be killed, but it will be a while before he faces a tough enemy that takes him to breaking point and he is not going to go down without a fight. I will allow him to learn some new Jutsu which use other elements due to his long life and ability to learn with the Kage Bushin and his dedication to winning and his hard work ethic while here in the DC universe which can be a real ace in the hole considering who he had to deal with in this new reality that he happens to find himself in. Not to mention that since he has been married to several women and had been with them for a number of years...you can bet that his knowledge in being with women in an intimate sense will be...

Well I'll leave that up to you all to decide what you think.

...

As for powers, this version of Naruto has all of his already known physical abilities and jutsu, along with his Sage Mode and the Kyuubi's purified chakra to boot. I will naturally allow him to use some other elemental Jutsus due to his long life and years to mastering many techniques. But first off, don't expect him to be able to do Kekkai Genkai at all since doing that would be cheating so he will not be able to fuse elements together unless he uses Kage Bushin to mold one elemental chakra with him doing the other. This due to him learning from his wife Mei who uses her own Kekkai Genkai of Lava and Boil Release as well as his training under Kakashi when he made the foundations of his Rasenshuriken Jutsu, and if he does use it, he can only use it for an allotted time as overdoing it is not good since the other elements are not his natural ones. The power left to him by Itachi will be revealed when I know what it is myself from the anime and manga so feel free to try figuring out for yourself until then. He will also be able to match Rock Lee and Gai's style of fighting though he is not a user of the Drunken Fist and can't use that unique style of his old friend. He will also have a variation of Hinata and Neji's fighting style though it is not as effective since he does not have the Byakugan like wife and cousin in law do.

He also learned how to use his chakra to amplify his own strength in the same level of Tsunade and Sakura and has some of their medical techniques though he uses them on others and not always on himself due to the Kyuubi's healing powers. he will also have some considerable Kenjutsu skills due to his training under Kirabi and also due to his wife Koyuki's gifts of swords that respond to his chakra though he is not at Kirabi's sword mastery level as he only uses two swords in battle and no he will not have the Samehada since that would be a bit much even for me. He will carry a number of other weapons to boot as well as the kunai used by his father as he does master his father's Flying Thunder God technique, and he can summon the same chakra chains as his mother though he only uses a smaller number of chains and they are not as strong as Kushina's, those same chains will be useful in battle as well as for moving about as he will be moving around ala Spiderman in this fic of mine.

That's pretty much it and do not forget he is not a pure immortal, he can be killed so don't expect him to be a Godlike being. While I find Godlike Naruto stories to be all right to some degree...too much of them can be annoying at times.

...

This story is obviously taking place before the formation of the League so Naruto is merely settling in and making a reputation for himself, and before the League is formed, he will have the chance to rub elbows with other DC heroes and heroines before meeting with the gang that forms the League, he might even rub elbows with either Batman or Superman before he works with them full time. that might even be the case with Flash as well. And like before I will have Naruto find a way to make money for himself...not by being an assassin of course.

Does my Rune Soldier Naruto story ring a bell?

Icha Icha Paradise is about to go into the DC world! And considering all the ladies in the DC world and his own meetings with the ladies of his world, Naruto is going to not run out of material! And you can bet that were will be some very interested buyers for said books.

Let's just hope that the ladies in question from the DC world don't find out they are being placed in a series of perverted novels...who know what they will do to our blonde Shinobi. But then again as I have stated in a few of my fics, were is the fun in life without some level of risk?

...

Anyway, I hope for the best and I am happy that this story is now out and ready to join it's brother and sister stories and entertain you all.

Bye!


	2. Chapter 2

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the Justice League Cartoon Series so do not ask…

Chapter 1

Getting one's bearings

( ): Thoughts

(( )): Kyuubi's voice…

…

In Los Angeles…

The busy streets of the place known to all as the City of Angels was so different from what one who was not a native was used to. And that applied to the disguised blonde who was currently walking the streets in a set of clothes that were the kind one associated with a regular teenager to an early adult who had his own sense of clothing style. Naruto wore a set of black denim pants, a white shirt and a green with black vest on, the only thing that would have been different about his appearance was his ever present birth marks on his face as well as his now red hair which was still spiky but draped downwards.

The blonde had managed to get his hands on washable red hair dye and used that to color his hair. Naruto made sure to pick a color that would match his mother Kushina Uzumaki's own deep red hair so it would be different. He had done so in order to avoid being seen in public since if he had not done it and left his hair in not only the natural shade and style it would have attracted attention.

He doubted that they would have recognized him as the Hokage from last night, but if there was one thing Naruto learned in his long life and career as a Shinobi, there was always a need to be ready for anything. Besides, it gave him a chance to actually try and have the very same cool red hair of his mother. He recalled easily how he had loved his mother's hair when he had been able to speak to her for the first and last time in his mind during his attempt to finally control the chakra of the Kyuubi long ago. Kushina smiled and loved that as well as loving him deeply and that had been the key to him winning the fight and she laughed at his words on how cool he would have looked with her hair color on instead of his father's.

Now he looked the part and that made him smile even more, and so far it seemed to be working as he moved through the city well enough without having the resort to Henge. Still it amazed him to see the city of Los Angeles…it looked SO different in the day compared to what he had in the night when he went out only yesterday. And this was the reason why he took the time to disguise himself and explore, he could have used Henge once again to try and move about like last time but he decided against it since there were now alternatives that he could use and thus he did not need to use his chakra. That was going to be used for other purposes and as such more practical disguises were a must for something like this.

…

In an internet café…

"Wow…this is different."

Those were the words came from his mouth that easily described this place he was in right now, he had seen the very large number of people there in the building and wondered what was this all about. He had managed to reach the inner areas of the city and had seen a large number of people there and him being the curious one that he was, decided to take a look and see what was going on.

And the things he saw in there were impressive to say the very least as he saw computers and more all over the place.

It was not that Naruto had no idea about technology, far from it as he was very familiar with a number of things here in this world. TV, refrigerators, radios, and even a few other devices such as water heaters, watches, toasters, and a few other things were just as common there in Konoha as it was here, and the other villages as well. But he had to admit that some of the things he had seen thus far were utterly new to him.

These things called computers, video cameras, cell phones, I-Pads, MP4 players, printers, scanners…all of these were so unknown to him, and even though he had seen a number of these already, the cars, motor-bikes, airplanes, buses, and more were utterly alien to him. NONE if these were seen as common to him in his mind back in Konoha.

Even this…internet was amazing, it was like all the world's news and more were made into one very accessible source and location. And so far he could see that the technology in this…world he was in was more than enough to make the technology back in Konoha, or at least some of it look old and obsolete. As he continued to work on the computer that he had paid for with some of the money he had on himself, he began to explore the internet and the computer to find out what he could.

The first thing he did was search if there was anything related to the layout of the city he was in. The night before, he had managed to explore most if not all of the city of Los Angeles, but he needed a map and that way he would know just where to go and what to do. He turned to one of the staff and asked a few questions.

"Excuse me."

"Yes sir?"

"How do you take this map from here and place it on paper?"

The young attendant looked at Naruto with some level of confusion as he thought that everyone already knew how to use computers, unaware that the red head before him had NO experience whatsoever with computer systems. After some time, the map was made for Naruto and he in turn was given a short idea on how the internet could be used for anything.

One such thing was something he knew that his godfather, the Pervy Sage Jiraiya would have enjoyed immensely when he checked it out. Even he was impressed by what he was looking at as well and couldn't help himself as he smirked somewhat.

(Man…I can bet the Pervy Sage would have LOVED this, who knows what sort of ideas he would have gotten.)

As he placed that thought aside, he decided to see what else he could learn, but he knew that he was going to have to be rather careful about it. Using Kage Bunshin to learn stuff was one thing but doing that in a place where such techniques could arouse trouble and too much scrutiny. And that was something that went against his training, it was possible to use Kage Bunshin and use Henge on them, but that would be taking a good amount of chakra. and while his control was a load better than what it was before when he was younger, way younger that is, he was not too sure about the idea of unleashing a thousand Kage Bunshin and then using Henge since Henge still required him to see a person and make an exact copy of said person. And naturally making a number of copies of other people was bound to get attention.

This was why he was keeping his reading to himself and while it was already beginning to stress him out a bit, he was not going to complain.

…

Later…

It took quite a while for him to get his work done, but at least he now had a map of the whole city and would not have to waste too much time moving about. But that did not mean that he was going to have an easy time of the whole thing as he went about to get his bearings. Having a map of the city with a bird's eye view is one thing, being on the ground and looking for said location was something else as well. But he was not going to make too much of a fuss, he naturally marked the places where he could find food shops and restaurants if he needed to grab a quick bite.

He looked around to make sure that he was not going to stand out like a sore thumb, and he was happy that his disguise was working fine so far. He then decided to go and see any other sights that he might have missed, he also made sure to keep his eyes and ears open in case of trouble. He had some supplies hidden on him in sealing scrolls which he could open and use, this included special containers filled with water so he could wash away the red hair color, the next were his ninja clothes, and naturally his weapons and equipment. Most people would have been shocked by the fact that he was a ninja and he was wearing those kinds of clothes and in broad daylight, but considering where he came from, ninjas doing morning missions was not unheard of and he had done a fairly large amount of those missions.

He also decided to read up on what was the view of ninjas in this world, and what he learned was not exactly something that he had expected. When he discovered that they were not able to use chakra like he could, he could not help but be surprised by that discovery. The way they used the Ninjutsu that he was familiar with was both familiar yet odd as well, and the gear that they were known or suspected of using was both familiar and yet not at the very same time. Naruto also had to admit that some of the documentaries made about ninjas were partially right and also those films were somewhat close.

Still, he had yet to meet ninjas in the flesh though Batman was the closest one to that description as the man was no doubt trained well. So far this world's technology and what he had seen was something that he was still getting used to. But at the very least there were no shortages of things to do, places to see, and women to look at every now and then. So far however there was nothing going on that would force him to go into his ninja uniform and for that he was thankful.

…

Hours later…

"Man…what a day…"

Naruto silently said to himself as he entered what was a small diner, the smell of food that was unlike anything he had tried before was new and tempting to him. He had enough of his previous winnings to get himself a meal which was something that was called scrambled eggs with bacon, and toasted sour dough bread. The waitress smiled at him in a rather perky and friendly manner.

"Is there anything else you want mister?"

Naruto looked at the rather nice looking woman and noted that she would have to be in her late teens and seemed to be in a rather happy mood, no doubt hoping to finally take a day off from work now that the night was coming in. He smiled gently at her and replied in a respectful manner, as he had matured well enough to know when to give respect to others.

"I am all right, though I would like some juice if you have any?"

"Sure thing, we've got grape, apple, lemonade, lime, strawberry, and watermelon right now, which would you want?"

Naruto thought it over and replied after a moment of or two.

"I'll take the watermelon."

"Sure thing there, give it a few minutes okay?"

The disguised blonde nodded as he went back to trying some of the food, and found that the food was not bad to him at all. It was actually rather nice and totally unlike any of the food that he was used to eating back in Konoha, though he had recalled trying something similar back in his traveling days. The sour dough bread was a new thing for him though and he was eager to dig into the bread even more. The waitress came back with his drink and Naruto found the drink to be rather nice.

However, his danger senses kicked in just as another man wearing a jacket came into the place, Naruto kept his cool while keeping the man in his sights, trying to discern what the reason was that his senses were telling him to keep an eye on the guy. It was not long before he noted the way the man seemed to sometimes move his hands into his pockets, like he was either checking something or making sure to have his hand on said item. The guy also seemed to be looking around in a way that told the ninja that he had less than friendly intentions.

Naruto's feelings were right on the money when the man moved towards one of the waitresses and before anyone else would notice with the exception of him, the man took out a knife and grabbed the waitress. The scream of the waitress was enough to get everyone's attention as people screamed as the man now pressed the knife into the throat of the woman he now held hostage.

"All right! Shut the hell up!"

The owner of the diner moved out and saw what was happening, Naruto sensed that he had tried to reach for a weapon but stopped when he saw that the man had a hostage. But he tried to speak and reason with the man.

"Hey buddy, take it easy here."

"Screw you old man! I want everything you have in that cashier of yours, right the hell now!"

The man then looked at the people including Naruto and spoke seriously.

"And if any of you try calling the pigs here, then I gut this woman right now and take one of you and do the same! You got me?"

The frightened people nodded and so did Naruto but he was hardly afraid, compared the numerous foes he had fought back in his world, this guy was barely at any level, heck, even an Academy Student would have been a lot more dangerous than him. But he did have a hostage so no one could make a move even though the former Hokage could tell that a few of the patrons were eager to try and stop him. Naruto knew he could easily take this guy, but using his ninja training was out of the question since it would attract attention. He had to let others do the move and to do that, he needed to give them an opening.

And he already had a very good idea on how to do just that as he reached into his pockets slowly and took out a coin. The blonde did it quietly as the man began to herd some of the more terrified people away to the door, no doubt to block it with their own bodies just in case someone came in. He in the mean time was still shouting expletives towards the owner to hurry up and give him cash. Naruto noted that the ones who he had seen were ready to make a move were looking intently at the man and not at him.

(Good…now we make the opening, hope to Kami this works.)

Naruto was carefully moving out of the way as he studied the one who was trying to rob the diner he was in. He knew that he needed to get into an angle and that would then allow him to attack. Thankfully his ninja training had paid off as he had made sure to improve himself during those years back in Konoha and he was soon able to get to the angle that he needed. The guy had his hostage and was focused on the waitress and the others but had not noticed the disguised blonde as Naruto got a small coin and waited a bit more until the man turned.

He focused some of his chakra into the coin and once he was sure that he had coated the coin well enough with his chakra, he made a quick and sharp toss and sent the coin right at the man's arm, namely at a nerve area that would cause not only pain but if hit hard enough force the man to drop his weapon, and hopefully that would allow him or the other patrons to try and take down the man without risk to themselves in the very same moment. The chakra made the coin heavier and thicker, but not enough to cut through the skin but naturally would impart enough force to hit the nerve that Naruto was aiming for. The attack from the blonde was more than enough as the man shouted out loudly as a sharp pain snaked through his arm.

"AAAAGGGGGG!"

The attack made the man drop the knife he held and that was the moment some of the other patrons needed as one of the larger ones got up and attacked with a football style tackle that sent the man to the ground. The pain of both attackers and the surprise of it all was enough to make the man loosen his grip on the waitress as another man came in to help the one who tackled the robber by kicking the knife away. The owner came in and brandished a hand gun and forced the man to stop struggling at the sight of the fire arm.

"Call 911!"

…

Later…

"Man, that was a heck of a first night."

Naruto arrived at his apartment and took off his mask, coat, and vest once he was in the room. He made his way to the living room and placed his swords on the small table that he had with him in the room and sat down on the nearby chair. He groaned a bit and felt his body begin to relax after a very long night on patrol as it were. After the episode with the hostage taking thief at the diner, Naruto was able to evade the cops and disappear, something the was good at now and had a lot of experience doing since a vast portion of the people were still in shock and dealing with the thief. He also made sure to blend into the shadows that were there before quickly washing away his hair color, placing his hair back to the way it usually was, and then getting dressed. Once that was done, he was now moving about the city and had to deal with a few other problems as well, there had been some muggings that he broke up, some thieves trying to steal jewelry and other things of value, a few car-jacking attempts, a few drug trafficking attempts, and a few serious street fights.

None of them were in the same league as the things he had dealt with in his younger days, but they happened quite a lot. That was something he had to accept since Los Angeles was a very large city compared to Konoha and the other cities he had see in his travels, and the police were no doubt working very hard to keep the peace in the city. That was why he did not interfere in some of their actions unless there was a situation where the police were either unable to help in time due to distance or were outnumbered and unable to handle the situation. He had to give them credit for taking such risks in their professions as he had read about them in the internet on his travels in the city, and while there were those among them who used their position and authority for their own ends, the rest were good men and women.

Naruto got up and headed to the refrigerator and took out some ramen and after taking the time heat them, he also decided to grab some fruit and a good drink of cool and still very much fresh milk as well, some of the things he had managed to get before his outing, finding a super mart a fair distance from his new place once he settled in. As he ate his food, he began to think about the other aspects of his time in this world, his time as Hokage had helped him see that he was still in a very unique situation.

One concern was the fact that he was indeed an unknown person in this world he was in, there was no doubt in his mind that NONE of the things he knew were going to be found here so he should not bother in trying to find them. This world would no doubt begin to question who he was and sooner or later, there were going to be people who would try to find out more about him. Back in Konoha before he became Hokage, he knew that he had the registered paper work as a citizen and ninja of Konoha as well as a member of the ninja army of the Land of Fire. And when he became Hokage, he had dealt with a few instances where he had to fill in citizenship registration papers for a number of reasons, namely when his children were born.

Here, he had none of that, he did not have medical records, no birth certificate, no nothing. And if there was one thing he learned well, it was the lack of these things that instantly sent warning signals to people in government. He should know since when he had looked through the files after the war, he found out about Kabuto's own files when he was taken in by a Konoha Medic Nin when he was found in a battle field so long ago. That was why he had little problem entering Konoha in the past since he had already files on hand to show that he was a citizen of Konoha through adoption.

He needed to address this soon as his second concern was involving his own living space, not many people wanted to live here and thus, there was a chance that someone was going to be rather curious why he would willingly live there. Staying in the apartment might give him a place to rest, recover, and whatnot, but without any records it was going to look very odd. This meant that sooner or later, he would have to find himself a place to live that would be…off the grid but still keep him close to the city if he needed to be.

Another concern was money, he had thought of it before but he had a lot of things on his mind at the time. Winning a lottery was one thing due to his rather potent luck that Tsunade and even his wives had said was like the luck of the Kami, but this was a completely different matter entirely. Winning a large amount of money was no doubt going to get attention from people and there was no telling if they were people that did not have bad intentions. In Konoha, his winning of the lottery was not too much of a concern, here it might be. He however still needed money in order to buy the things he needed and as such, he needed to have a source of income. Hiring himself out as a ninja was a viable option, but he was not sure if it was a good option. There were no doubt other people who hired themselves out for legitimate and less than legitimate work and get paid for it. These people no doubt would have no desire for heavy competition and there was no doubt that they would try and deal with him.

And while he could be an assassin, he had not killed anyone just for money alone, when he finally killed both Kabuto and Madara, he had been paid handsomely but these men were totally irredeemable and had to be taken out as soon as possible and money was the last thing on his mind. He had a huge amount of ryo but he knew that the currency in his world was not going to be acceptable so he needed money that was native to this world.

He thought it over more and more and it was not long before he hatched up a solution, and just as he was about to do it, he got a call from none other than his former resident the Kyuubi.

(("What the heck is cooking up in that mind of yours again brat?"))

(It's been a while fur ball, how have you been?)

Naruto heard the Kyuubi growl darkly at that and the Demon Fox who had been his resident for years respond to that.

(("If it wasn't for the facts that I can't kill you since you and I are still tied to live together, I am no longer as powerful as I once was, and the fact that I FINALLY developed a real respect for you, I would eat you alive and piss on your remains after I take over your body."))

(But you're not going to do either, right?)

(("Don't get snide with me brat, you and I might be on much better terms than when you were still a shrimp and when you finally grew up, but we are hardly going to be full time friends. You and I are allies of convenience and nothing more."))

Naruto snickered at that as he knew that to some degree, the Kyuubi was right. Even after their time together, his control over the Kyuubi's chakra, and to the Kyuubi's grudging respect, the defeat of Madara and his allies as well as Sasuke, they were hardly good friends. He had taken the Kyuubi's hatred in the past and eventually they became respectful to one another, but they were not like Kirabi and his own Bijuu, he still kept the Kyuubi sealed away and he knew that if given even a sliver of chance, the Kyuubi would try to take over his body and use it for it's own needs.

(Maybe we are, but you have to admit that we did a lot better working side by side than going after each other by the throat. I DID help you gain your desire for revenge against Madara for the crap he pulled on you after all.)

(("Grrrr…fine, and at least you are no longer a weak container like before, I swear, every time I think about how you used to be, it makes my stomach groan and my teeth ache. And at least I finally got to see you get laid and married to worthy mates, shame they're gone but at least those were GOOD times."))

Naruto frowned at that and replied.

(Have you been peering into my memories again?)

(("It's a habit since there's nothing to do while you are in control, and besides, I only get to go out when there is a need for it, so what is on your mind anyway? You've been making a racket for a while now and I am getting annoyed by it."))

(Just thinking about what we need to do.)

(("Uh huh…just the regular boring stuff again, you know, I hate to say this, but I long for the good old days."))

(Oh? You mean the days when we were dodging away for our lives, fighting Akatsuki and Madara, as well as what was left of his plans and also the deceased Jinchuuriki that manica of a nut brought back to life as well as that army of cloned creeps named Zetsu? If I were to recall, you were always telling me not to be so reckless with OUR lives. Since when do you want those days back all of a sudden?)

(("At least those old days were not boring brat, all we've been doing so far is foiling robberies and the like, pure crap assignments if you want to hear me comment about it…though at least this world we're in has promise and I'm not going to be dealing with those blasted Uchiha again. So what is going on right now in this place you call your brain? Tell me now so I can get some blasted sleep already."))

Naruto told the Kyuubi and after a while, the Kyuubi replied.

(("So that's the reason you've been making such a mental racket? Please…you've done worse before, living on the move in this city should be enough, stay in one place and then move around, and doing odd jobs here and there should cover it."))

(Easy for you to say, you don't have a lot to deal with in your own mind, and stop peering into my memories Kyuubi, or else I am going to tighten that cage again.)

(("Hah! At least you've grown a VERY good pair, tell you what, why don't we go and get drunk and have a lot of fun, from what I have seen, this city's got some INTERESTING stuff to look at and experience…especially the female company."))

(Oh sure…go out and get drunk and get laid. That seems to be an answer you would come up, I swear you're like the Pervy Sage at times.)

(("It's a start, and besides, with my healing of you, your bloodline, and that Senjutsu you've been working with for decades, you're going to be fine."))

(Haha…we have to worry about how we're going to live here Kyuubi, that stuff can wait…I was thinking of being a sort of traveling writer, might work.)

(("And what pray tell are you going to be writing about?"))

(My travels, people, places I've seen, battles I've fought in, that sort of thing…I might even try my hand at doing those novels the Pervy Sage cooked up here in this world like what I did back in the old one.)

(("Hmph, do what you like brat, but I sure as hell hope we get to see some action soon, I am getting really annoyed that we only have to deal with such small fry. If there is nothing else I am going back to bloody sleep."))

(Night then fur ball.)

(("Same to you shrimp."))

As soon as that conversation was over, Naruto began to think about that idea, writing was something he had done a LOT of times and he had plenty to write about. He could try it out and at least see if he could earn money out of it. But he still needed some things to do that, he usually relied only on an empty book and his supply of pens and his imagination, but this world had a number of very interesting things that he felt he could use to his advantage. It was going to be something that he was going to have to take in consideration but for now, a good night's sleep could do him a world of good.

After cleaning up the place and making sure to secure his home from anyone who might come in, he got some much needed shut eye. Tomorrow he was going to do some major shopping and also possibly win some more money in either a few odd jobs or in a lottery, and when that happens, he was going to get to work.

…

Four weeks later…

Jimmy Olsen was usually the kind of guy who was working around the clock in the Daily Planet, namely when it came to pictures and articles that were of great interest since he wanted to be a photographer and one of the best in the Daily Planet as well. But right now, he was checking out this recently circulated short novel that was becoming something of a hit with some of the younger members of the newspaper. The young man had to admit as he read the story that it was…interesting and more than once he could not help but shake his head as well as blush.

(Man…whoever came up with this is either a guy with a very vibrant imagination, or one hell of a pervert.)

He was so engrossed in reading the book that he was not aware that there were two people coming in behind him. Thus it was not surprising that he was surprised when the book was taken from him.

"Hey!"

"You know better than to be reading on the job Jimmy."

The young man gulped as he recognized the voice as Lois Lane's and sure enough, he was right as he saw that it was indeed Lois Lane with Clark nearby as well.

"Uhhhh…sorry about that, I'm just reading the story half way now."

Lois read some of the book's contents and she raised an eyebrow at this and looked at Jimmy.

"Where exactly did you get this?"

"I bought it in a book store, it was recently released from Los Angeles, and made by a writer there, someone calling himself Sage Thompson or something like that. For a guy who writes stories like that, he's not too bad though not as good as you Lois."

The dark haired female reporter shook her head and replied.

"This guy's…different, I'll give him that, but while he might stir a man's ego with some of this, I still don't have a liking for what I have read so far, though he does have a rather…extensive imagination."

"You mind if I take a look at this book Lois?"

Lois raised an eyebrow at that and replied.

"You sure about that idea of reading this book yourself Smallville? The stuff I just read might not be good to you."

Clark smiled a bit and replied.

"I'll be fine Lois, I am a full grown man after all."

Clark looked the book over as soon as Lois handed him the book and when he read some of it, he could not help but raise his own eyebrows. The two waited until he replied though he could not help but have a slight shaking of the head as he spoke.

"He's got a vivid imagination all right, still…it's not too bad at least, compared to some of the things I have heard about."

"Right…anyway, we've got a story to cover, make sure Perry does not see you with this Jimmy."

As the two left, Jimmy took the book and hid it away and he wondered just who this guy was, he was not very famous and was not that recognized, but the fact that he had this story made and published meant that he had some clout, no matter how small. He then got back to reading and couldn't help but get back into the swing of things. If he ever met this guy, he was going to ask just where all this came from since despite coming close to being called porn, it had a good story.

Unknown to him…

…

Naruto yawned a bit as he headed off the roof of the train he was riding on and was soon in the trees. As soon as he was in the clear, he continued the rest of the trip in his own fashion. His new destination was still a day or so away, but he was going ahead to make sure that he had plenty of time to spare. This place in question was interesting to him and exploring the outside world was going to be interesting to him. Apart from wearing a new set of clothes, he now had a backpack carrying a laptop, several portable and rechargeable batteries, a wireless internet drive connection device, and a few devices called…USBs.

These had his files and after spending a week pouring through computer manuals and practice, he was able to make good use of it. He had won enough money to buy what he felt was a good and durable laptop and went to get the rest of the devices he now had and worked on a short story that had him in it though with a different name along with his late wife Hinata who had a different name as well. It was actually based on a mission they did together when they were not yet married and what they did afterwards. He grinned to himself as he recalled how surprised he was when he discovered the wild side of the normally gentle and kind hearted Hyuuga heiress. Hinata was not too wild, but still, it had very interesting results either way. That was his first story and thankfully it was enough to get him paid a good amount though the books were limited as he had found a publisher who was willing to take the challenge and accepted the fact that he was a traveling writer, they agreed that he would send them stories via the net when on the move or when he was there in the area and while it was odd to be sure, he was happy that the man agreed to it anyway.

For now he was on his way to see the next city and had to admit that it had the promise of being entertaining.

That place was none other than Metropolis itself.

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

I decided to update this a bit before going to my other stories since this has gotten quite a lot of interest. I will be working on my NWN LOTR story soon enough and the others I have mentioned as well.

Well now, that takes care of this chapter and while this is not too long or too short, and not filled with action packed battle scenes, and the like, I like it. The reason for this chapter is that I want Naruto to be a lot more settled before he takes a more active role in the hero community. On the next chapter, we would have him meet with some of the more recognized heroes, and that would be Superman himself, along with those that Superman knows and sees as his allies and friends, that being none other than Supergirl, Steel, and Lois Lane.

Is there a chance that Naruto would try and flirt with either Supergirl or Lois Lane? Or even both? Maybe, he is a guy and he will be interested as both Lois Lane and Kara are very attractive, and he is not the kind to ignore women. Though naturally he will not be too open about it and he will keep it to himself and be friendly about it, the last thing he wants to do it get on Superman's bad side when it comes to women.

Naturally he will soon figure out that Clark Kent is Superman, and Kara is Supergirl due to his training and more besides, though he will make sure to keep that to himself. How? Well that will be up to me to play out now won't it?

…

Now on a topic that has apparently gotten a lot of interest, my plans for Naruto's relationships which as I have placed will be on the H route. Several reviewers have given me a bit of a debate on this route and they have given me very solid and respectable arguments. They stated that the idea of Naruto being in a harem relationship with the DC ladies is not a good idea and would be considered wrong and also out of character. And they do have a point as the women of the Justice League, whether the Comics of the Cartoon series as well as the movies are not the kind of people who would like to be in a situation like that.

Now I have talked to them and explained that I have plans myself to make it possible. But for the benefit of those who are possibly asking the same questions, I will state that not all harem stories and anime always end in the guy of the story having ALL the ladies. There was one anime that had the young man being joined by a number of women who were actually teachers in his class, and they were there in their own words to be his mothers.

Now before anyone here starts getting H related ideas to this anime, the women did become like mothers to him and they help him overcome many trials related to regular life and school life. Another series is a personal favorite of mine, and this VanDread since despite Hibiki being chased by Dita, Misty, and Jura for different reasons, he eventually ended up with Dita and in the novel for the anime they had a daughter.

Harem fanfiction might get some odd marks from some readers and for good reason, but to me it all boils down to the writer. Does the writer take the time to make the relationships with each female character involved in the 'harem' more robust, well thought out, and developed? That is a the key question in any story that has a male/female relationship, does the relationship grow and become something better and does it have the right plot points to reach the point for the two involved to be an official couple?

Now one fanfiction that has in my mind won the goal is Hung Nguyen's TekkaDread since Slade/Ranma's relationships with Dita, Jura, and Meia had been properly developed and thus the three were more than willing to be with the man they loved and share him. Because the respective relationships in the story had been given plenty of time to develop, they worked out and have reached the point that they are more than acceptable.

Naturally in the case of Xian Pu and Ukyo's relationships with Slade/Ranma, it had reached a point that they were assured that though they had not won Slade's affections the way they wanted, they were still important to him and they remained in very good terms with the Tekkaman.

The same will go for Naruto in my story, in simple terms, Naruto will be spending time with the women who he might be with and depending on how the time is spend, then that will determine if the relationship will reach a point that the woman in question and Naruto become more than friends or remain as friends. Along the way, the women will also be able to talk to one another and eventually, depending on how their own relationship with one another, if will be seen if they are all right with the idea of sharing Naruto or not.

…

I hope that this will explain my stance on Naruto having a Harem route, Naruto will not get ALL of them women like that. He will spend time with them and develop his relationships and thus, the number might be rather small in this case and also will be deeper than just physical attraction. Some will be merely friends and they are on good terms with one another, while the ones that have reached that point and become the ones that Naruto will be intimate with and where they do not mind being with him.

That means in simple terms that Naruto will not have a harem just to have them. He will develop his relationships and take the time to know them all, and in doing so, he will show that while he had been in a marriage with more than one woman, he is not someone who does it for kicks.

Besides, I will also be looking for possible loopholes that I can use to make it possible. Those loopholes will take time for me to find and also determine if it indeed can be viable for my needs, and for the story itself.

And do not forget that I have already made clear that some women will indeed be off limits as I plan to have the recognized relationships in the series remain that way.

Naruto will flirt with them, but in a friendly fashion as well as he has respect for the guys who are in the eyes and minds of the said women.

…

Now I hope that clears things up and will answer some of the questions that are in the minds of the readers. I however have no doubt that there will be more questions and I will do my best to answer those questions when they come in the story in the reviews.

Do not ask me who will be the potential candidates since you already know that I will let them appear on their own time in the story itself, for now we have Naruto merely getting into the beat of things before he will be eventually working with the League. He will meet some of the other DC heroes as well and this should make things a heck of a lot more interesting.

See you all soon!


	3. Chapter 3

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or DCAU so don't bother asking about it.

Chapter 2

Big Blue Boy Scout meets the Orange Hokage

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kyuubi

…

Naruto whistled a bit as he was now looking at the outskirts of the city, he had gotten out of the woods after a while and was now there in front of the first city in his plan to see this world on a more personal level.

"So this is Metropolis huh? Not as big as LA, but certainly a good sight."

The blonde Hokage was very interested to see the world and the cities, namely those with recognized heroes since he wanted to see what they were like in the flesh. He felt that one can only learn so much from magazines, rumour mills, and newspapers, and meeting/observing the people in question was a more complete way of understanding them. He still had his gear and weapons hidden in some scrolls should he need them, and at least he had his laptop to boot. And he was very keen on the idea on making sure to meet the heroes who resided here, he was already aware of Super-man but he was also aware that there were others in the city as well. he was aware of the one known as Steel, and the other being Superman's cousin, the one named Supergirl...who he had to admit was rather good looking and would have really gotten the attention of guys who were around his physical age and not his actual age...not to mention the attention of his Godfather.

He placed that aside however and decided to go into the city, but not before making a few changes to himself. He took to the direction of a nearby car stop and grab something to eat and then do the changes, then head into the city and go to his work. Besides, he might pick up some brand new ideas to add to his creations. All the while, he decided to work on that idea of him making an autobiography of himself and make a story out of it. He had no idea on how this might play out but as he had learned very early in life, there was a first time for everything and this might pan out well in the end.

...

In Metropolis...

"Hmmm...not too bad."

Naruto stated to himself as he walked through the city as he was now disguised with his hair now deep brown and he placed on some contact lenses to change his eye color and also had a Henge on to hide his whisker-marks. He was now moving on with the rest of the city crowd and wanting to see just what this place was. He did have some prior reading on the city and knew that this was going to be an interesting area, considering that a good number of people reside here. Not to mention the fact that this was also the home turf of Superman, his cousin, Steel, and a few others. He was not sure what he was going to do when he would meet them in person, but he was going to have to prepare himself for anything that might happen while he was there.

As he moved through the streets, he also made sure to keep his eyes and ears open as well as his battle hardened senses for anything that might happen around him. The city was well known for having quite a number of more than interesting criminals and he had yet to meet them. Most of the time, he had to deal with the garden variety crooks and criminals as the Kyuubi snidely called them and thought that they were small fry compared to the criminal lords, ninjas, and more that he and the blonde Jinchuuriki had dealt with in their time together. And to some point, Naruto had to agree, he was very curious what sort of high powered criminals were there in this world that he would have to watch out for.

He soon arrived at one of the most recognized places in the city, and that was none other than the Daily Planet, he had to admit that it was impressive by the standards of buildings back in Konoha, but he was not going to try and compare it. For now however, he decided to go and grab a newspaper and see just what was on the news on this side of the world. He spotted a newspaper boy and asked for one and paid the guy with some of his money, and cracked open the news to see what would be there on the pages. One topic had to do with the actions of several countries on a variety of matters, another dealt with some new action by some celebrity or another, the actions of another company, though in the case of Metropolis there was only Lexcorp in the spotlight.

There was mention of Superman doing some more good deeds, though there was some dissent towards the hero that was there for Naruto to read. The former Hokage could not help but notice that int he picture, the man had stress lines on his face, and he could relate as despite his youthful appearance, he felt the arrival of the said lines on his face when he was doing his job as Hokage. No doubt the guy was working his butt off to try and redeem his name and Naruto had no problem with that as he expected it from the man.

He looked at the rest of the newspaper and when he was getting tired of reading it, he decided to store away the newspaper in his backpack and moved on to see what else was going to happen. He stopped however when he spotted a number of people coming out of the tall building there. One of them appeared to be a dark haired and blue eyed woman who wore a white skirt, and a business style top in light blue-violet color and no doubt wore a second type of shirt underneath. The other was a guy with wide shoulders, tall to boot, and while the suit made him look normal, Naruto was willing to bet that underneath said suit the guy was seriously well built. The glasses might also give him a look that showed he was harmless, but the last person he knew who wore glasses was not in any way, shape or form, harmless.

The woman was very attractive in his mind and no doubt if he was still alive, his perverted Godfather Jiraiya would already be making his move on her, and he would admit the same thing. But judging from the way the woman was with the man and how the man was close to the woman, that told him that he would not approve. Not to mention that the way the woman moved, showed that she was skilled in defending herself, not to the level of facing highly trained assassins yet, but close enough to handle the odd thug and overconfident fellow with lecherous intentions.

The guy on the other hand sent warning bells in his head as he felt his danger senses warn him even more that this guy was not to be trifled with though he was not evil looking in the slightest. But for some oddball reason, he looked somewhat familiar to him.

(Why is it I get the feeling I know that guy?)

Naruto decided to try and get an image of the man and headed to a nearby camera store and decided to get a disposable camera, namely the kind that had no flash and would be easy to use. He was not sure what to make of these cameras as they were a load more advanced than the ones he had seen back home, but after a while he decided not to bother with the details on operation and focused on use. he then began to follow the group to see what was it about the guy that was making his ninja senses go on the alert and giving him the message that he was no ordinary person. He moved at the other side, making sure to keep himself controlled and invisible, and it seemed to work a good deal, that is until the group got into a taxi and were now on their way somewhere in the city. He could have gone after them on foot, but doing that was not an option.

Naruto decided that now was the time to go up to the air.

He moved a bit further and entered and alleyway, making sure that he was alone and no one was around to see him. Seeing that he was indeed alone, he quickly changed into his normal gear for ninja work and also got a bottle of water out to wash out the hair dye to return his hair to it's natural blonde state. With that out of the way he quickly moved on the walls with chakra on his feet and moved to the roof. As he got there, he decided to switch to Sage Mode and focused on the dark haired woman instead of the man.

He had no idea if the man had the ability to sense him being tracked via chakra since no one in this world seemed to use let alone know of chakra the way he did, but no sense taking risky gambits this early. But the very second he was able to sense chakra, he was quite surprised to sense that man's chakra, it was NOT human in a very real sense, and he knew that as compared to the chakra of the people around him, along with the man in that car, the man's was denser to a level and also had a strange feel to it, almost like it was not part of the natural flow of chakra in a person, and he sensed that it was near Kage Level chakra or that of a Jinchuuriki tapping into the initial stage of the Tailed form, something he knew very well. He got up and decided to follow the signature but not before deploying two Kage Bushin the remain behind and gather more chakra for him to use. The Nature energy here was a bit dull due to the modernization of the place but not that bad to others.

It took a while for him to follow the car as he used his kunai with the wire to move from building to building while using his chakra which was channeled to his feet to hold on to the walls, and using his senses in Sage Mode to follow the car until it reached it's destination and at least it was near some docks. That allowed him to try and get a better vantage point and where he quickly returned to using Henge, only this time he took the appearance of one of the many dock workers while making sure to change his hair color a bit with some chakra application. He made sure to keep himself cool and calm as he tracked the trio and they were soon before a man who Naruto guessed was the one they came to see.

He watched them carefully, silently hoping that he was going to find out just who the big guy was and as soon as the man began to take notes and speak his turn, he waited. For what he had no idea and as soon as the interview was over, the blonde noted him place his arms on his chest in a cross pattern as he seemed to smile at something as the two who were with him were rather animated in their discussion. He decided to take a shot at it and took a picture of the man. Once he did so, he decided to try another experiment and headed towards the trio, he knew that he had to time it right and make it look like an accident as he took out some of his loose change from his pocket. He then dropped the coins down and made sure that some of the change rolled to the direction of the people in question.

He then spoke out as the coins stopped before the trio.

"Damn it, they rolled out of my pockets again!"

That worked as the man he had been looking at and observing moved to his knees to help get the coins and spoke to him as soon as he got up and offered the coins to him.

"Here you go, I think it's better that you have a wallet on hand next time."

Naruto smiled a bit at that and replied as normally as he could manage. he gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head as he pocketed his coins and spoke.

"Sorry about that, I was a bit of a butter fingers with coins growing up, my name's Curtis, Curtis Reilly, new here in the docks, you are?"

"Hello then Curtis, the name is Clark, Clark Kent from Smallville."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that though he did that very slowly.

(Smallville? There's a place with that kind of name? Better focus on the mission of finding out more of this guy.)

"Nice to meet ya as well Clark, anyway, you happen to be a reporter I take it?"

"Yeah, from the Daily Planet, and so are my friends here, meet Lois Lane."

Naruto looked at Lois Lane and mentally whistled at the way she looked, which was definitely a looker with the dark hair, well featured face, and eyes. Not to mention the figure to boot. He extended his hand and she shook his hand as well, in that moment, he was able to tell that despite her being a beauty, this lady had some strong muscle tone and with his battle hardened senses, could tell that she had combat training, possibly self defense. He decided to keep his normal persona under wraps and just stick to the persona he developed when in Henge.

"Good to meet you Miss Lane."

"Same to you Curtis, you full or part time?"

"Part time, supposed to be signing off today anyway."

Lois nodded and that was when Clark introduced the orange haired and freckle faced guy next to them.

"And this is Jimmy Olsen, one our photographers in the Daily Planet."

Naruto looked at the guy and saw that he was fresh faced, eager, dedicated, and also very energetic, reminded him slightly of himself when he was still younger. It made him grin in his usual fashion and spoke to Jimmy.

"Nice to meet ya Jimmy."

"Likewise, I am also one the best photographers in the Planet, you can ask both Clark and Lois, I worked with them a long time."

"I see, anyway, I have to get a move on, don;t want my bosses to be thinking I was slacking off."

As soon as he left them, Naruto kept himself focused on getting away from them without raising any alarm bells and it was not long before he was in the clear. he sighed a bit and removed the Henge. But that was when he heard a massive explosion happening in the same docks, and felt the explosion as well. He looked to see what was going on and it seemed that the dock workers had an accident and he looked around carefully to see the people there moving around in different directions, some ran away, others moved in to see what was going on, and other moved in to help. That was when he noted that Clark had disappeared from Lois and Jimmy. He raised an eyebrow at that and then spotted none other than Superman, he kept himself hidden as best he could and calm as he watched the Man of Steel as he was called in saving the people who were in the area of the detonation.

Once that was done and the fire department came, he saw Superman talking to the dock workers on what happened and he was in a pose that he recognized easily with the stoic but calm and relaxed look. Naruto took the picture of that and soon left.

...

Hours later...

"Man...feels good to be on a bed."

Naruto said as he was now resting in a hotel that he managed to pay for with his funds from being a writer, and he was soon going to have room service brought up for dinner an hour or so later. It annoyed him that they did not have ramen but decided to try other food as well to see how it would fair. For now however, some rest was in order as well as a meal, he dozed off for at least an hour or so as he had gone off to have the pictures developed and soon paid for them and got to the hotel. He had only dozed off for an hour or so before he heard the door bell and the call.

"Room service!"

Naruto woke up quickly and headed to the door and opened it to let the man walk in with a tray, it still amazed him that a guy could actually come here and order food and drink in the comfort of their own room. Sure he had food in his own place and could ask Ayame and the ones she and her father hired at times for food deliveries come to the Hokage Residence, but this was different either way since he did not have to pay a large amount for it. He however placed that aside and began to eat the food once it was on his table. the food comprised of salmon sashimi, roasted beef, hot potatoes, and rice balls along with a pitcher of cold lemon tea. The food was custom ordered by him and since he was going to be in here in Metropolis, he was going to make the most of it. He was happy that he had gotten a lot of money t stay in the hotel for a week and a half.

Once he was done eating, he decided to get to work and see what was it that made him think that this Clark Kent was hiding something about himself. He got the pictures he had and also began with the picture of Clark, he took out a scroll he had hidden and called out a kunai. He then channeled a bit of his Wind Chakra to increase the cutting power, He had to be careful though since overdoing it might cut through the table and even the floor and the last thing he wanted was to explain to the people who owned the place why one of their tables was cut in half or worse. Once he was done with what he had in mind, he made his next move and there he made a very interesting discovery.

(Well now...this is a surprise.)

Naruto looked at the image before him and smirked slightly, he had taken the newly acquired picture of Superman that he had from the docks only hours before and had placed the cutouts of the man he had pictured on the image of Superman namely the suit, shoes, and glasses minus the eyes. And when he looked at the image, he could not help but see the similarities and what he sensed from his use of Senjutsu only served to convince him further. He decided for now to place the discovery he made aside as he then decided to destroy the images.

Clark Kent was Superman and apparently was working in that place called the Daily Planet as a cover. And he could not help but shake his head at how no one but him had figured out the true identity of the hero of Metropolis. Then again if one were to look at Clark, despite the size and build, he looked like a guy who got beaten on for his lunch money on a regular basis. He should know since he used to get hit a lot by bullies as a kid before he developed a reputation as prankster without equal and also developed his Taijutsu skills.

As he took the images he decided to rely on his Wind Chakra to slice the pictures into nothing but bite sized chunks and stuffed them into the trash bin, he COULD have gone for Fire Chakra but that would have triggered the fire alarms and he was not in the mood for that to happen. He then took a shower and when he was done with the said shower, he got back into the room and opened the curtains to see the city and admitted that it looked nice at night. Once that was done he decided to open up his laptop and begin to write his stories, connecting his portable Internet USB Drive and getting to work, as it was time to earn another internet paycheck. In the meantime, he was going to do something in Metropolis to get feel of the place and also see if he could see Superman in action, as well as learn more of him to see just what sort of guy he was underneath the cape.

...

The Next day...

Naruto was up and about early in the morning and decided to call the desk that he planned to go out side early and have his room locked down until he got back. He had spent at least six hours on his latest work as Sage Thompson and also began to send the drafts for his own comic. He made it up as a way to chronicle his own life and decided to use his first name as the title of the comic and the character and using the name Masashi Kishimoto as his pen name for this side of the deck. It was a name that seemed right to him and he went to work in making the history of he placed that he had grown up on Japan and had learned about anime and manga and wanted to make his own series that could be accepted in Western audience groups. That was why he also decided that when he had the chance, he was going to learn how to draw manga and since he had good enough memories of his fellow ninja and the people in the Elemental Nations, allies AND enemies, he could draw them.

It was just a try and he was not sure how effective it was, but no sense not trying something new every now and then. he also recalled that it was the way that Jiraiya made the book that shaped his life and that of Nagato, who he found out later in life was one of his fellow clansmen in the Uzumaki side of things, and he hoped had found peace in the afterlife alongside his family and friends. If he could make a story about the life he lived that could inspire others as that book Jiraiya made inspired others, then why not do it. Besides, if he had to do book signing, there was always Henge.

Once he was done with that and and saved the files, he left the hotel and carried a special note in his pockets. Once he felt that he was in the clear he moved to an alleyway and out of sight of anyone else. He then decided to get decked out in his regular clothes and see the city the only way he liked. He quickly climbed up the nearby wall and tossed out his kunai to the next building and began to move around the city, sampling the sights and already seeing the first rays of sunlight coming up to cover the city. And as he moved from place to place, he looked down to see how the people were and they were acting like the people he had seen back there in LA. Some moved about to do their daily chores, other went to work, some wondered about, and enjoying the day. And naturally when he moved over them in his outfit and mask, they were soon reacting, though in a way that he did not expect as they spoke out.

"Look! Up in the Sky!"

"Is it a bird?"

"Is it a plane?"

"No, it's...I have no idea what or who that is!"

There were people looking up at him as he moved over the city using his kunai with the wire and on occasion his own chakra chains, and he wagered a guess this was how Superman would be known, seeing as this was the man's home city. And he found the lines rather amusing to boot. As he moved over the ropes and swinging away like a maniac, he stopped over at the Daily Planet and figured he could move around to say hi as it were.

...

In Perry's office...

Perry was currently discussing some matters pertaining to the incident yesterday with his reporters and naturally two of his best, Lois Lane and Clark Kent were there along with the others. He was eager to see if they could find some news about Superman and see if they could help change the image he had on him, and they had good reason to do so. Perry held Superman in high regard and wanted to try and help him recover the trust of the people, and while he knew that Superman was doing an admirable job already in trying to clear his name, it was far from easy. Not many people were willing to forgive Superman for being used to invade their world by Darksied, even though it had already been known that Superman had been brainwashed and was not himself.

"All right, where do we stand with Superman?"

One spoke.

"Still all right Chief, but not everyone in Metropolis is going to let it go."

"I know that, but we know that he's been working his butt off to clear his name, and I can even see the lines on his face, and I don't leave the office until five. We could at the very least help him out so he does not have to go all out."

Unknown to Perry, Clark was smiling as he knew that at least here in his workplace, he had a good number of supporters, Lois being one of them which helped him deal with a lot of things. Part of him wanted to tell her the truth that he and Superman were the same, but if experience was anything to go by, if she knew who he really was and others found out about it, they would be gunning after her in no time flat. And he was not in the mood for them to attack the woman he happened to be very much attracted to.

Lois turned and noted the smile on Clark's face and smiled a bit as she nudged him gently on the ribs.

"You okay there Smallville?"

Clark turned and nodded a bit while smiling.

"Yeah, I am fine, just thinking about how Superman must feel to have supporters here in the Planet."

"Yeah, he's done a lot for the city and the people so he does deserve to have allies here right, plus he's not lied before to anyone either so we won't lie about him. Not like the other news stations have been doing lately."

Before anyone could say anything though, one of the staff came into the office and shouted out.

"Chief! We got news!"

The assembled reporters turned and Perry spoke next.

"What's going on?"

"We've heard that some of the people in the streets have seen a guy moving around the city in the air!"

"Who?"

That was when another voice came on the scene...outside the window of Perry's office.

"That would be me dattebayo!"

The assembled group of reporters and one disguised Kryptonian turned as one to the window and there sure enough was the Hokage, decked in full attire and crouching on the ledge and giving them a wave. He looked at Lois and seemed to smile at her and winked at the same time. That made Lois raise an eyebrow and a frown from Clark as Perry spoke to the man before them all who was disguised.

"You're the Hokage! What are you doing here in Metropolis?"

"What? A guy can't take a tour of the cities every now and then just cause he wears a mask? I won't be here long so don't worry, i ain't here to upstage Superman either, I am just here to see the city and the rest of the country, but if there's anything happening down there that ain't good, then I won't hesitate to help. See ya!"

Naruto turned and then unleashed his chakra chain and the energy chain soon got to a nearby building, digging into the concrete and off he went, swinging away off to the rest of the city. Leaving behind a group of people who were surprised at the appearance of a hero who was supposed to be based only in the LA area.

Clark had managed to see through the mask and was surprised to see that the Hokage was actually a teenager who looked to be at least seventeen or younger at least as far as he was able to see. In hindsight that made the Hokage not much older than Kara in a sense and he decided to get a chance to talk to the youth but not before going to get some help.

He did appreciate the fact that the Hokage seemed to be the kind who helped others, but he was not going to take any chances too early until he knew the young man more. Already the reporters moved out and the Daily Planet were on the move to see if they could track and pin down the Hokage, and find out just what was the reason he was here in Metropolis.

...

They were not the only ones however as one certain corrupt but intelligent businessman/criminal mastermind was also interested on what was going on, now that his secretary had informed him of the sighting. This new hero was thought to have resided in LA only so why he was here was a very interesting thing. And after seeing the abilities of this being, looking him over was going to be something that would be possibly worth the time and investment.

...

In the city...

The blonde moved through the city with chakra chains and wired kunai and then spotted what appeared to be a bunch of thugs robbing a bank...in broad daylight no less. he blone wondered just what was going through the minds of the criminals in Metropolis. They should already know that Superman called this place him and from what he learned, the police here were top notch when it counted, so why bother robbing the place when it was either going to be the cops or Superman and those with him that were going to come in and get you.

(Either they've gotten used to seeing him or they're thinking with all the things he's been doing, he is not going to be around.)

The blonde Jinchuuriki decided that now was the right time to at least halt this, and who knows, he might run into the heroes of the city in question later. He moved to the next building and once he used his chakra chaine quickly moved to where the bank was and quickly tossed out some wire and grabbed one of the crooks as he flew overhead. The guy cried out as he was yanked off of his feet and was soon finding himself hanging over the street tied up in wire over a street pole. The group of thugs below looked up and saw Naruto as he was crouching over the pole and looking at them. The same could be said for the police as they had been expecting Superman, Supergirl, or Steel to be here, not this guy in a mask.

One of the thugs shouted and aimed a shotgun as Naruto and Naruto quickly flicked his hand and out came a shuriken that lodged itself right in the front of the barrel as he moved in, leaping at the man. The guy screamed like a little girl as Naruto knocked him down to the ground and was out like a light as the former Hokage made his move and rolled to land a solid rising side kick to the head of one of the thugs, sending him to the side and out cold like his buddy. The other guy tried to attack him with a hidden knife but Naruto quickly got out a kunai and used the ring on the handle to catch said knife and with some quick movements move the blade away and disarm the guy and then introduced an elbow charge into the guy's sternum. That sent the man down as Naruto quickly used the kunai he had to stab the guy next to him, but not in a fatal place as he nailed the guy to the wall. He turned to face the last robber but that was handled well enough as the guy was now surrendering to the police...and for good reason as three figures appeared nearby.

Naruto could not help but whistle as he was now face to face with none other than Supergirl herself, along with her cousin, Superman. He had expected one of them to turn up when that bank robbery was going on, but not both of them at the same time. As far as he could see, the 'Man of Steel' was a lot more imposing in person than in the pictures, though he noted some stress lines on his face and he did not look as...healthy as his other pictures did, though he had seen some fairly new ones. No doubt he had been working nonstop to repair his good name and the effects were there for him to see. Naruto had to give this guy credit for that and he smiled a bit underneath the mask he wore and gave them a wave.

"Well now, nice to finally meet Superman and company, sorry about the mess, it wasn't my best effort but at least they did not get far!"

Superman sighed a bit as he and the two others landed, Kara eyed the thugs a bit and was SLIGHTLY surprised at how fast they had been taken down. She had heard of the Hokage in the news, but did not view it all that much as she believed, that if you've seen one Meta-human, you've seen them all, regardless of the powers. It was not that she was against them or anything, but she was used to meeting them a lot so she was a bit used to it. Steel on the other hand was curious how this new guy got here and somehow avoided revealing himself to anyone until now, the guy looked to be all right but Steel was not going to rely entirely on first impressions. Superman then stepped forward and spoke to the Hokage and Naruto wondered just what was it that the man was going to talk to him about.

"How old are you Hokage?"

That was something that Naruto was not expecting for a moment, until he recalled something about Superman, apparently he had some form of powerful vision, some rumors said that it allowed him to see through things. That was rumors but if there was one thing Naruto knew to be true, sometimes rumors were a bit too close to the truth. Everyone thought that Rinnegan was a mutation and was not going to come back again the world, but it did in Nagato, Tobi, and Madara. Everyone thought that the Jubi and the Sage were stories and they turned out to be true so if this guy had...the ability to see through things, then he was not going to take a chance and think that it's not possible.

"Why are you asking Superman?"

Clark sighed a bit and spoke.

"You look to be around at least sixteen or something, shouldn't you be in school or something instead of risking your life? You should not doing these things as if it's a fantasy thing kids have in their heads."

Naruto felt a tick rise to the side of his head at that comment. Sure he LOOKED young due to his bloodline, Senjutsu training, and the Kyuubi's chakra, but being called or at the least IMPLIED as being a kid was a bit too darn annoying for his liking. He would have found it funny and would have joked about it or laughed it off, but being called a kid as if he was a newbie in fighting was annoying to him.

He wasted no time and got into the face of Superman...surprising him, Steel, and Supergirl as not many people would do that to him and it seemed that some of the people who had cameras were also surprised and half expected the two heroes to get into a fight.

"What did you call me?"

Something about the tone in the Hokage's voice told Clark that he had taken offense to that and seeing the angry expression through the mask with the X-ray vision confirmed it. That was enough information to tell Clark that he should try to talk to the young man and resolve this before it got ugly.

"Look I didn't want to sound offensive to you since I have seen you in action already on the news from LA, but you're rather young to be doing this kind of thing. You can do a lot better things before you try taking into this kind of life you know."

Naruto then pointed to Supergirl and spoke seriously.

"And she isn't a bit too young for this line of work?"

Supergirl was a bit annoyed...or rather, very annoyed at the guy pointing at her, sure she was rather young by Argonian terms, but she had already done her fair share of crime fighting and had even helped in stopping Darksied's invasion, along with stopping her cousin when he was brainwashed and went rogue. To be pointed at and called a kid by a new arrival was something she was not too keen on and she made that clear as she stomped over to the blonde Hokage and spoke.

"Who are you calling a kid buster?"

Naruto was not too put out as being glared at by a rather attractive blonde haired and blue eyed female in her choice of outfit was not too bad a thing, and he could understand the reaction as he would have reacted the same way. But he was not going to let that stop him from saying his piece, he was no longer a kid and had more than enough years to be as cranky and serious as he wanted.

"You actually, you look to be around what, sixteen or seventeen?"

"Seventeen's my age and I am no kid! I've been doing this for a while now and I am no slouch."

"Well neither am I, and for your information, I am no kid. if there's anyone around here who's been getting on in the years, that would be me."

Clark was curious about that as he looked once more at the young man who's mask he could see through with his X-ray vision. The guy looked to be around the age he had seen though he noted some signs of experience so maybe calling him a kid was a bit of a mistake and he did show age on his whiskered face. But he also noted that his eyes which were deep blue also spoke of something...old, and experienced...so maybe he might have jumped the gun as it were. That was lost to Supergirl who was not using her X-ray vision as she was still locked in a glaring match with Naruto while Steel was looking on, trying to get a feel of the situation and possibly try to diffuse it before it got worse. But before anything could happen, there was a large explosion off in the distance and that got the attention of the group as Clark spoke.

"This will have to wait, we need to go and find out what just happened."

"But..."

"Kara, now is not the time, we need to check this out, we can talk with Hokage about this at a later date."

Kara sighed reluctantly and gave the blonde Shinobi a glare as she was soon joining her cousin as Clark turned to face Naruto.

"Listen, I can understand that you want to do this to help or be recognized, but you're still new to this kind of life so try to live a normal life okay?"

As the heroes left, Naruto glared at Clark, he knew the guy meant well, but if he had even the slightest idea of what he had been through, what he said was not going to count for much. Naruto had lived a life that would have made most young men and women who were just regular folks quake in their shoes and had faced so many life or death situations that had he been a regular 'kid' as Superman had put it, he would have either been given an early funeral, sent to child services, or considered mentally unstable.

(Live a normal life...hah! I'd rather not thank you very much! And I am not doing this to be recognized...at least not yet.)

Naruto was tempted to go ahead and let them deal with whatever it was that got their attention away from him, but something was tagging his senses and telling him to go and see things through. Besides that, he was rather eager to see just how good Superman, Supergirl, and Steel were in action.

(Now to see if these people or whatever they are, are as good as the newspapers make them to be.)

The blonde Shinobi quickly tossed out a kunai connected with metal wire to a nearby wall which was reinforced by his chakra, once the kunai bit hard into the wall, he began to move up and swing to the wall. Once he got there, he clamped onto the wall with chakra and began to move quickly from building to building by using another kunai. This process was not as fast as his chakra chains of the Flying Thunder God jutsu of his father, but it was going to help him a lot and keep his real power hidden away from those who managed to take a look at him.

As he made it there, he spotted a large number of people gathering and saw that there were several armored trucks that were smoking, telling him that this was like that event he had dealt with before. He moved up to a high tower and looked to observe how the two cousins and their armored to the skin companion were doing. They seemed to be doing fine with the bank robbers as the two super powered siblings crashed in and blocked the bullets from the men. Naruto knew what guns were and had to admit that they scared him a bit since they were faster moving and therefore harder to block, but he knew that they made quite a racket and needed to be maintained more than most even if one had bought the 'attachments' to silence them. He found that out by checking out a gun owner's magazine when he decided to find out just what were those strange devices used by the police and the robbers he had fought with before.

Superman and Supergirl took the hits and the bullets merely bounced off of them and the same could be said for Steel's armored form, the first two were a bit surprising to Naruto, and the second was to be expected since the guy had a LOT of plating on him. Naruto watched the trio and saw that they were doing all right and the blonde cousin of Superman was proving not to be a slouch when it came to socking bad guys in the jaw. But that was when two green beams smashed into Superman and he could hear the pain coming from the guy in blue and red. That shout was just the beginning as Superman was sent flying back into one of the armored cars. He could already hear the results of the Man of Steel being sent flying away from his comrades as Supergirl called out to her cousin in shock. He watched as she turned to find out who attacked them, but got her own answer as another pair of beams came at her direction.

She managed to fly up but the shooter hit her and she too hit the ground fast and hard and she was also in pain. Steel turned and sure enough out came the enemy as Naruto himself got to see him. And he was definitely different. There was a torn face there and yet the rest of him was all metal, wires, and a host of other glowing parts that Naruto had no idea about. At first he thought he was looking at an all metal version of the Combat Puppets used by Suna ninja and Gaara's brother Kankurou, but as he stretched his chakra senses a bit, he was surprised to find that there was SOME life in that being. And in the back of his mind, he felt the Kyuubi stir in him.

he watched as that guy with the metallic body fought with Steel and for a moment or so, it seemed that they were evenly matched. That is until the living being of metal managed to side step a strike to the head and kick Steel in the stomach, the sound of metal hitting metal made even him wince from where he was and he wondered if Steel was still alive. The guy was and seemed to be still able to take the fight to his foe as he swung that massive sledgehammer again. The strike hit the metallic being and sent him crashing into a nearby van and it seemed to be over, but that was until the guy came back and tossed a massive steel slab at Steel. The man managed to smash it aside with his hammer, but that was the opening the guy needed to charge in and hit Steel with a kick to the chest and followed with a knee and a serious right hook.

Superman and Supergirl tried to get up but then the guy fired the same green colored beams at both of them and Naruto saw both Superman and Supergirl take the hits and cry out in pain. The metal being came closer and it was there that Naruto noted the man's chest open. To reveal a large glowing green rock and that seemed to throw his senses off a bit, telling him that glowing hunk of stone was a lot more dangerous than it looked. The state of the heroes was pretty bad so now it was time for him to move as he now recalled just how this figure was.

...

Metallo was pleased as he was now going to finally eliminate the two thorns to his side, Steel was a problem if he was not watched, but as soon as Supergirl and Superman were out of the way, that armored man was done for. And he could not help but relish the weakened and pained looks of both cousins as he taunted them.

"You both are finally going to be gone from here, and maybe I can finally get the chance to rule over this damned city once I dispose of a certain back stabbing businessman. Now let's get down to me getting rid of you both permanently..."

before he could finish his rant a the heroes, Metallo felt several rather sharp scrapping sounds and he turned to see some sharp metallic discs burying themselves into the concrete and soon he spotted Naruto himself.

Metallo growled at his new attacker and spoke to Naruto.

"So you're Los Angeles' hero on the block huh? The Hokage as they call you, what in the blazes are you doing here in Metropolis?"

The blonde in the mean time was a bit more silent, seeing this walking monstrosity of metal and whatnot made him remember the times he had to deal with ninjas who used puppets and also the story of Sakura's battle with Sasori himself, the worst however was when Tobi used the bodies of dead ninja as his own puppets of war long ago. There had been a few other battles with ninjas willing to do anything for power in his time, even giving up their bodies to do so, and those kinds of people gave Naruto more than his fair share of headaches. This one, the one he read about as Metallo was a totally different kettle of fish. But it was obvious that this guy was no pushover. Metallo was beginning to lose his cool and quickly grabbed a nearby pole from the road and tossed it like a spear at Naruto.

"Hey, it's considered bad manners to ignore someone asking questions!"

Naruto quickly took out one of his swords and channeled his chakra into it and cut the pole in half, then quickly vanishing from sight, much to Metallo's surprise and appeared behind him.

"And where I come from Tin man, it's twice as rude to be throwing spears at people!"

Metallo turned and saw the young man cock a fist at him and he grinned...or tried to grin as he was thinking that this guy did not have the strength to hit him as Superman would and he made that obvious as he spoke.

"Go ahead, give me your best shot!"

He showed his metallic chin, expecting the arrogant but fast young man to be screaming in pain with a broken hand, wrist, and arm. What he did not expect as to be punched hard enough to literally send him flying backwards off his feet and smashing into the armored van. The van was caved in and sent back a bit much to the surprise of the onlookers and to all three heroes as they had not expected that, Clark had thought that the glowing sphere of energy was the reason he was able to cave in the truck from his debut on TV, while Kara and Steel had thought that few could knock Metallo like that. As for Metallo, he could not help but shake himself a bit and look at the young man who did not even show any sign of pain in his punch and he had to admit that he was not expecting that blonde to be that strong.

As for Naruto, he silently thanked Sakura and Tsunade for the training in channeling chakra into his body to increase his overall strength, he had decided to test this attack and reserve his Senjutsu chakra if he needed an edge or his purified Kyuubi chakra since the latter was not ideal for something like this. And it seemed that he would not have to resort to that just yet, which was a good thing to the blonde Shinobi as he readied his sword to fight again.

"You've got some serious muscles there Hokage...always thought only Superman or his cousin could hit me that hard...but you can't harm me, I am indestructible!"

"Yeah, yeah...I've heard that before Metal Brain, you planning to fight or talk me to death?"

Metallo glared and got up, grabbed a large section of the armored car and quickly tossed it at Naruto like a Frisbee, a razor sharp and jagged metallic Frisbee to be more accurate, Naruto wasted no time and quickly flipped over the attack and moved to face Metallo. The two attacked one another with fists and sword, Metallo proved to be rather tough to Naruto as his sword was not cutting at all, and that made Metallo grin like a maniac as he taunted the blonde.

"See? You're sword's useless against me!"

Naruto remained silent and quickly flipped back as Metallo decided to take a shot and charged right at Naruto, intent on giving the young man a serious punch to the jaw. Naruto however was quick on his feet and dodged the punch, rolled out of the way when Metallo tried a knee strike and then flipped up to land a seriously strong chakra enhanced spinning side kick to the head of the cyborg and sent him forward and trying to balance himself. This allowed Naruto to quickly come up with a plan and when it came to play, he charged at Metallo, who recovered and launched a fist at Naruto who moved out of the way and dropped some smoke bombs. The bombs went off but Metallo was able to recover, turn around and launch an attack at Naruto as the smoke was soon moving away.

"Nice move blondie, you might actually KNOW how to be a ninja, but old trick don't work on one who has special vision!"

The attack caught Naruto in the stomach and the blonde groaned as Metallo grinned at that while the others looked on in shock and horror. Clark most of all since he had tried to move and assist the Hokage in fighting Metallo but the attacks Metallo had used had weakened him. The same could be said for Kara and for Steel, he was still trying to get his armor to recover from the attacks and she was also trying to fight off the effects of the Kryptonite blasts. But they and the others, including Metallo were in for a surprise when Naruto looked up and grinned, speaking as if the attack did nothing to him at all.

"Too bad you were looking at the WRONG Hokage Tin Man!"

The people watched as Naruto's body suddenly poofed away and there were large numbers of paper tags there with some form of writing. The tags were also suddenly burning and before Metallo could react, the tags exploded with the force of several crates of TNT. Naruto had been busy enhancing the explosive qualities of his explosive tags recently and the results of said changes were obvious as Metallo was send flying backwards off his feet, he looked and was surprised to see Naruto above him and then release several kunai that were also tagged with explosive tags. These weapons quickly lodged in the area where his Kryptonite heart was and due to the enhanced explosions were enough to force the panels open.

He hit the ground hard and before he could react, Naruto was there with a very large sphere of glowing energy in hand as the blonde Shinobi struck hard.

"Take this in that rock heart of yours! ODAMA RASENGAN!"

The very second the attack connected to Metallo's Kryptonite heart, the blast was immediate and unleashed a massive cloud of debris all over the place. The ground shook with the force of a bomb going off and there was a large scream coming from Metallo. The people who were there braced themselves and covered their eyes as the blast of wind and dust was everywhere. It took a while before the smoke cleared and there was a very deep crater on the ground. That was when they spotted Metallo being carried out by the Hokage on his shoulder as if he was a feather pillow and then tossed aside and in the area where the Kryptonite heart was, it was not there anymore. The blonde looked about and then did some hand gestures and then to the eyes of everyone in the area, there were several poofs of smoke and there appeared MORE of the Hokage, at least a dozen or more as the middle spoke to them.

"Go and find any of those rocks and get them all gathered."

"HAI!"

With that done the other Hokages moved away as the apparent original moved to get to the three heroes.

Kara tried to get up as she felt the effects of the Kryptonite injuries fade away a bit more, but to her surprise, the Hokage then scooped her up in his arms bridal style and moved to a nearby bus shed that was not totaled by the fighting. That was something that no one expected to see, least of all Kara who was blushing as she looked at Naruto.

"You all right?"

Kara said nothing as she was still trying to get used to the fact that only minutes ago, she was trading barbs and glaring matches with this guy and now she was rescued by said guy. She looked at him and despite her weakened state used her X-ray vision to see him, and got another reason to blush when she saw Naruto's face, and she had to admit that he was rather good looking.

Naruto had no idea why the super powered blonde teen was turning red on the face, but he would have to be a liar to say that he did not find it rather attractive and amusing. It was only when he realized that like her cousin she can have vision to see through things so she must have seen his face and that made him smirk mentally. But he managed to get his thoughts focused and spoke once more as they reached the bus shed.

"Hey, not that I mind the looking and all, but I asked if you were all right."

"Oh...yeah, I'm fine. Just need to rest up a bit more."

Naruto grinned behind his mask and as soon as he looked away, the Kage Bushin were coming back, keeping in mind how the two flying heroes reacted to the rock of green he made sure to ask something to the recovering Superman who was with them now as Steel was back on his feet, and apparently alive and breathing to boot.

"You have anything that can shield you from that glowing rock powering Tin Man over there?"

"Yeah...it's Lead, that's the only stuff that can block the Kryptonite radiation."

"Huh? So that's the name of said rock, all right then, I'll just have my buddies take it a LONG distance away and when you recover enough, they will tell me where they hid it so you can get that lead stuff you need."

Clark had no idea how that was possible and was about to ask when Naruto spoke to him once more while pointing at a very tall building at the distance.

"They said that they placed all of the pieces in a very large bag on that tower over there, can you see it?"

Clark did so and sure enough, the bag was there, held by metallic wire and he could see that the Kryptonite was there in the bag so he was assured that the man was not hiding it from him and the others.

"Yes I can."

"Good, see you Superman...or should I call you Clark Kent?"

Clark's eyes widened at that as he turned around to face Naruto and it took a lot of his willpower to not react to the fact that the Hokage had just figured out. But as he did so, all he saw was a swirling circle of leaves as Naruto was no longer there. The only thing he saw was a note which was sealed with the man's leaf signature. He took it up and saw that there was a message.

'To Superman/Clark Kent...

Don't worry about your identity, I am not telling anyone since I can tell that you are a good man and you carry a lot of burdens on your shoulders, namely that incident with that...uh...Dark...whatever that alien nutjob's name is. I might sound weird but I know what it's like to be treated with disdain and suspicion, and I know the desire to work hard to prove yourself that you are a different person and not what others think you are. I read all there is to know about you before and after that, and I have to say, you have a lot of guts and grit, I like that a lot, you could have used your powers to do what you like and kick the law on the ass, I know how that goes since I used to give the law the finger when I was younger. But you used your powers for the right reasons, and I learned to fight for a better purpose than just pulling pranks and causing mischief. That's why I respect you so I promise to you as a ninja and as the Hokage I will not reveal your identity to anyone for as long as I live and I wish you the best in what you do dattebayo!

P.S

This note is going to burn up so I suggest you drop it...I'm not kidding by the way, the special seal I put in it kicks in a minute after that note's opened'

Clark then was surprised when the note did burst into flame which quickly reduced it to ash and he could not help but shake his head as Kara walked up to him.

"What happened? Where did he go?"

Clark shook his head and spoke to Kara in private.

"He knows who I am."

Kara's eyes widened as she digested that bit of information, Clark's part of being Superman had been one of the best kept secrets they both had, and now it seemed that someone else knew about it! How did that even happen in the first place? She looked at her cousin and spoke to him as calmly as she could possibly manage.

"How did he do it?"

"I don't know...but he said he was not going to reveal it. And for some reason I get the feeling that he is telling the truth Kara."

"Are you sure Clark, for all we know he was lying to make you lower your guard or something."

"I know, but the fact is that he went out of his way to get that Kryptonite away from us, and if he wanted to reveal how he knew who I really am, he could have done it the very second he found out about it. All we can do is see if he is going to do what he promised."

...

Later...

Naruto was back in his hotel and had taken all of his clothing, weapons, and armor back into the storage scrolls and sat down to begin meditating to heal himself with Senjutsu Chakra. The battle with that Metallo guy was definitely a step above the norm, the only thing he felt could come close was the battle his wife Sakura, alongside the old lady of Suna Chiyo with the Akatsuki member and Puppet Prodigy Sasori. That kind of foe was something that Naruto was not fully prepared for, but he had to admit that the battle was interesting. And it seemed that as he recovered from the injruies, the Kyuubi, or rather Kurama agreed with him.

(("Finally we get to have a chance to fight a decent fight, that metallic being in human form was a FAR better challenge than those punks and low level wretches we dealt with before."))

(You seem happy all of a sudden Kurama.)

(("Weren't you listening to me brat? If this is but one villain, then perhaps this world CAN be challenging after all."))

(Well I'm glad you approve, because if that battle was any indication, this world's got a lot more in store for us.)

(("About bloody time too, this place was getting boring, say, why don't we try and see if we can handle facing that Superman in a sparring match? That should make sure you can get the damned rust in your joints to leave."))

(You want to run that by me again Kurama? You WANT me to face Superman in a match?-! You realize that the guy's got Kage Level chakra in him, even to the point he's got the chakra level to be close to a Jinchuuriki in initial form. And he's not even a human to boot, he's not even an enemy of ours or a criminal and you WANT me to fight him?)

(("Don't be such a wuss Naruto, you haven't had a decent work out of a fight for weeks to a month here in this world, even back there in where we came from, the fights have been few and far in between. You might train your butt off every now and then, but nothing beats fighting an ACTUAL opponent, and even Kage Bushin will not cut it anymore. Besides, it a SPARRING MATCH not a death match you blonde haired dolt, and you have to admit that fighting someone like that is something that can really be a good way to get you back to shape."))

(I cannot believe I just heard you say that, let's just focus on staying off the radar for now, the less likely we get attention to ourselves, the better.)

(("Now I am the one who is shocked, you actually WANT to stay OFF the radar? What happened to the blonde dolt who loved to get attention whenever he could?"))

(He grew up, and I were to recall, you approved of it.)

(("Hah, point taken, so we're going to just stay here in the city then?"))

(No, I'm off to see the rest of the world, maybe Gotham City, heard the place should be interesting.)

The Kyuubi seemed to accept that and while Naruto could tell that Kurama was now taking another nap, he could tell that his resident Bijuu was mumbling about the chance to finally find some new and worthy foes to fight. And truth be told, he was actually looking forward to the chance to finally fight some worthwhile foes as well. For now however, he decided to lay low and just observe while writing more of his stories before packing it up and going to Gotham City. He was also going to check out just what other villains were out there in the city to see just what he could dig up as well as possibly find some more...inspiration as his old sensei and godfather used to call it.

Once he felt fully recovered, he went back to writing as he began to recall some of his adventures with his allies back in his world, plus he recalled just who he had seen, namely a certain reporter lady, and Superman's cousin.

...

For the rest of the week, Naruto remained incognito, a feat that Kurama was still trying to grasp considering the way Naruto acted in their world, and had focused only on making his next set of books and also on that story that was based on his life. He did on occasion go out to see the rest of Metropolis and also take a peek at what else he could see as well as who else. On one occasion, he got to tangle with none other than Livewire, formerly known as Leslie Wilkins.

The female villain had been terrorizing some of the residents and trying to cause mayhem when he decided to step in while wearing his full costume, armor, and weapons and while Livewire laughed at his looks a bit, he was on full combat mode. He decided to use a Jutsu he took years to develop to counter Livewire's ability to use electricity which was similar to the Lightning Armor used by the Fifth Raikage A. The Wind moved at extreme speeds around him and even gave him the ability to fly which was something that Livewire did not anticipate and it seemed that while he was from another world, the principles of Chakra controlled elements seemed to work here still as he was able to handle some if not all of her attacks.

He then used his Water Jutsu that he spent a lot of time learning from both Kakashi when his Jonin sensei was still alive and also from Mei who taught her use of Water Jutsu to him. he unleashed a powerful series water blasts to force her back and then unleashed a wave of Mizu Bushin. That was no mean feat since water based Chakra was not his type, but it worked as Livewire was shorted out and he left the scene, but not before leaving a note to Superman. Once he got back to the hotel, he bemoaned the fact that during the battle, his cloak got singed a bit by a Lightning blast from the crazy woman, though Kurama replied that it was a small price to pay to face a new and interesting foe.

He kept his promise and did not reveal Clark's role as Superman and when he finally decided to leave Metropolis, he went back to the Planet in Henge, as a delivery guy, made his way to where Clark's desk was and left another note. One that said that he was now leaving the city and still intended to make sure that he will keep his promise of not compromising Clark's secret. As he left to the elevators, he passed none other than Clark and Lois and merely grinned secretly as he went down the elevator and spotted Clark as he read the note.

Once he was out of the Planet, he headed off to get his things, check out of the hotel and make his way to the nearest airport, he was rather curious about those things and hoped that it was not going to be a bad ride. Just what and who he was going to find in Gotham was still unknown, but he could bet ten to one, it was going to a man dressed like a bat and fought like a ninja, if he was lucky, and since he had the luck of the devil as some of his friends and family called it, he had no doubt he was going to meet the Dark Knight, on what set of circumstance though he had no idea.

...

To be continued...

...

Author's Notes:

There we are, an update for this story is complete and shows that this is far from dead, and I hope to continue this now that my PC is working. I have already begun to update many of my works that were sadly put on hold due to the computer being repaired and I hope to update all my works soon for all to see.

Now on the topic of Naruto arriving in Metropolis, it's not the best work I have ever done by a long shot to be sure, but it's better than nothing I suppose. Naruto using the name of his very own creator in the real world was suggested to me and I found the idea too good to ignore so I used it. Kind of odd to be using a name which in real life belonged to the person who created you, but that just adds to the humor in my books. Now he might not have flirted with Lois and Kara directly and a bit more than most guys would have, if they had the guts to do so, but writing about them in his new series of novels as Sage Thompson comes pretty darn close, plus Kara seeing his face and seeing the looks he has might just add some fuel to the fires so to speak.

And fighting Metallo and Livewire has just kicked the fires in both Naruto and Kurama as the later now realizes that there ARE worthy foes to fight in this world, who knows how far this will go in the future of the story.

Anyway, we're off to Gotham to meet Batman and company, and I plan to have Naruto make some new designs for his costumes to have some changes though he will stick to the orange and black will he handle working with the Dark Knight and family is going to be interesting, and he might even flirt more seriously with some of the female villains in that side of the world, if you can suggest some of said villains, then PM me okay folks?

See you all soon!


	4. Chapter 4

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto or Justice League.

Chapter 3

The city of the Bat…

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Conversation with the Kyuubi/Kurama

…

Gotham Airport…

A large plane was now making it's way to land on the runway at the Gotham City Airport and just as it was releasing it's landing gear, out came a figure holding to one of the tires and soon landed outside of the field near the runway.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze dusted himself off and soon got on his way to get away from the authorities and go see the rest of the city. He was still wearing his usual gear as he hid and quickly changed his looks with hair dye color and Henge, he also made sure to check his laptop and UBS Drives, and was pleased to see that they were all working nicely. Once that was done, he moved past the airport's field, leaped over the fences, and moved towards the city.

Moving into Gotham City in the closing hours of the afternoon was already giving the city something of a gothic look and he could not help but feel a bit spooked out by it. He had read the files on the city and while it had it's fair share of fun places and things to do, the criminal elements in the city were literally flowing around like water. And a number of the said criminals were all crazy and completely unlike anything he had dealt with back in L.A.

One such foe was known as the Riddler who seemed to enjoy making all these wacky but deadly word puzzles that usually drove the people who were his victims. He had no plans on mincing words with a guy like him since he was in no mood for wasting time on some crazy and lethal scheme.

He placed those thoughts aside as he moved into the city, the first thing he did was go to a nearby café and decided to grab some food and some drink. As he sat down, he decided to check out the news which was thankfully being played on a nearby TV set.

'In the current news today, Billionaire Bruce Wayne will be attending a special charity ball for the Gotham City Police Department Veterans Fund. This has been Bruce's second appearance in the ball and has shown his support for the Gotham PD."

Naruto looked at this man named Bruce Wayne and he could see that he was all smiles and working hard in front of the camera. He had a feeling that this guy was hiding something, a pain of some sort but he decided that it was not his business since despite playing what he suspected was a role, Bruce was very genuine in his actions when he presented an award to the Police officers who were there on the stage.

For now however, Naruto's concern was on what else was in the news. And it was not going to be long before the news turned to something that he felt as a lot more important to listen to.

'In other news today, the criminal known as the Penguin has been transferred once more to Arkham Asylum following his latest attempt to steal a number of priceless relics from a recent excavation in South America what were being stored in the Gotham Museum. The former socialite turned criminal was foiled by Batman and Robin during his attempt and while it had been a difficult chase, he and his henchmen were apprehended and locked up by the two as well as preventing damage to the relics.'

Images of the criminal in question actually made Naruto raise an eyebrow…this guy was nowhere near as freaky as that Akatsuki swordsman named Kisame, or that snake summoning bastard Orochimaru, and that zombie bounty hunter of Akatsuki who was the victim of his prototype Rasenshuriken decades ago. But this Penguin guy certainly looked like the flightless bird he read about in the internet and at the library he at times went to just to keep himself informed, and like the ones he had seen near the Land of Snow/Spring.

But unlike said birds that he found to be funny and at times cute, this guy was downright creepy and also looked like someone who not only needed to be on a diet but needed to spend a whole life sentence on a deserted island and away from the populace.

(There's an idea, maybe I should to the Hirashin technique and take all the bad guys to an island WAY off the map and let them figure out just how they are going to survive.)

But despite how tempting the idea was, he decided to place it aside for now since that was no doubt going to be a problem. The methods in which this world dealt with criminals confused him at times since in his reality, criminals were usually divided into two categories with different punishments. The civilian criminals back in his world were usually dealt in a fashion by the Kage and were punished depending on the severity of their crimes. Though that was only in the Hidden Villages and those who were not part of the Hidden Villages were dealt with by those who were placed into positions of power by the Feudal Lords and by civilian officials. The other category of criminals were the Missing Nin who were quickly placed on the Bingo Book, this book was the source of information on renegade ninja and just what were their crimes and the bounties that were placed on them by the officials.

Of course the Bingo Book was different for each Land, and while there were criminals listed there, there were also enemy ninjas who had done things to warrant them being placed in the Bingo Book. And usually ninja who encountered ninjas who were listed in said Bingo Book would be given the authority to take them down, either for capture of kill. But that was not recommended for Ninja who were high ranked, S-Ranked Ninja in the Bingo Book were to be engaged with extreme caution, a large number of highly skilled ninja were assembled, or when the ninja pursuing said target was an S-Ranked ninja as well.

Naruto decided not to delve into that any further as he decided to go and finish his food and drink. Once his food was there before him, he went to work and enjoyed his food as best he could. He would have gone for ramen but this was good enough and besides, he had no idea if there was a ramen stand anywhere in the city.

Hence the need for him to get a map and explore the city soon, he also kept his senses alert on the chance that some nut might decide to try and rob the place. The last thing he wanted was a replay of his time in that place in L.A. Thankfully it seemed that the majority of criminals that called Gotham their home had other ideas or had bigger fish to fry. As soon as he was done and paid his bill, he moved out to find a place to call home, though he had an idea that he was willing to try just to make sure that he did not get into trouble.

He decided to find a nice place to call his base of operations and get there to do some work on what he was going to do in Gotham, but he had a feeling that sooner or later, he was going to meet some very interesting people. But before all of that, he needed to get some shut eye, tour the city a bit and when he got a map, go out and do some aggressive recon. Not to mention do some shopping to buy some new supplies and equipment with his money that he might be in need of in the future.

…

Back in Metropolis…

Clark Kent normally was very calm and level headed, but today he was a bit tense, or rather more than tense…try impatient.

As much as he was relived that no one on the Planet had gotten a tip about his identity, or anyone in the other news and gossip agencies, that did not make him feel any better. The Hokage had pretty much faded away from the scene as he had only made very few appearances in Metropolis before being gone for at least two weeks. Perry had been trying to find leads since he was curious as to who this hero was and why was it he was moving about the world when he should be in L.A.

Clark was happy that his identity was not exposed, but that did not mean that the discovery that someone else apart from his family and Batman/Bruce knew he was Superman was not easy to deal with. Kara was insistent that they find the Hokage and get some details straight and find out just how he found out his identity. And she had good reasons but so far, the man was off the radar and not a single sighting of him had been made. Most would have thought that the Hokage had gone back to L.A, but there was no sighting of him there either so that meant that he was still moving around.

(Where are you Hokage?)

Clark was tempted to go to Bruce and see if he had possibly heard of this Hokage, since he knew Bruce would want to keep an eye on matters that were of concern. But he decided against it since there had been no mention of the Hokage in Gotham and if he was there, Bruce would have informed him, even more so since Bruce would not be the kind to let someone just appear in his city.

For now he was busy with his life as Clark Kent and he intended to keep it that way. But the best he could hope for was a chance to learn more about the mysterious Hokage and how he had learned about his true identity. And if possible, hear about any new happenings that can be linked to the blonde masked figure who had deduced his identity.

…

Two days later…

Naruto was in his combat clothing and was now moving over the buildings as he ran over the roof tops of the city. The Shinobi could not help but admit that the city was filled to the brim with activity, most of the time the night life were the negative kind. But he was keen to see just what the city was going to be like and possibly run into any of the criminals. As he got over another building, he began to run up the nearby wall and got to the top and scanned the city.

He looked around his current location and then sat down on the cross legged position and began to summon the Natural energy and found to his slight disgust that the energy here in the city was a more than a bit tainted. Industry normally did not bother the natural flow of energy, but the ninja noted that heavily industrialized cities had a tendency to taint the natural energy in and around their area.

But he placed that out of the side since now was not the time for him to think about the mess. He was in Senjutsu mode in a mere moment and began to scan the chakra signatures in the city. There were a lot of them and it was going to be a bit before he sorted them out and he decided to get on the move and see just what and possibly who he was going to see.

He moved over some of the buildings and soon he spotted the flashing or lights that were red and blue, the universal color of the police in his experience. And judging by the number of said lights, this meant that something was going down, and he had a feeling that he might meet Batman or possibly some of the more colorful criminals. He had managed to get a dossier of the criminals that called this gothic city home…though what Gothic meant he had absolutely no clue.

His files on the criminals that called this place home had some very…interesting people. One was a man going by the name of Bane. A guy who apparently was one heck of a body builder and had a serious use for a drug called Venom. Seeing an image of that guy had him thinking about all the muscle bound ninja he had fought before, who despite their size, sometimes had some wicked speed.

Apparently he was also rather smart, a deadly mix of brawn and brains though he was supposedly a mercenary assassin. Naruto had little liking for that kind since despite his people being trained as assassins, they only got to that stage if they were contracted to kill someone who was very important or too dangerous and they usually were allied to the village. Mercenaries were looked down on by a good number of loyal ninja since they were highly untrustworthy and certainly not someone one worked with unless they had some very steep pockets. Even the Samurai in the Land of Iron hated them and those of their group who did turn rogue and become mercenaries were treated even worse.

Still, fighting the guy was going to be promising. The other guy was man who went by the name of Joker. A deranged madman who dressed in the WORST getup Naruto had ever seen.

(Guy who wears make-up, and also clothes of Green AND Purple as well as acting like a super creepy version of Orochimaru? What kind of sick nut acts like that and dresses like that in public?)

Still, this guy certainly had brains to mix with the craziness, having held Gotham for ransom MORE than once and had really given a lot of the police headaches in trying to deal with him. And the way this guy treated his victims filled the former Hokage with a great deal of disgust and that was something since Naruto usually tried to change people with the marked exception of those who are truly irredeemable. If he was given a chance, he would silence the bastard personally but for now he was going to let Batman deal with the nut.

There were others but these two were certainly interesting.

The first was Selina Kyle who was a very attractive blonde woman who could easily turn heads and make most men who had little control over themselves drool or think LESS than gentle thoughts. He however could tell that she was not just a luscious figure and a pretty face, she was known as Catwoman, a thief who certainly had the looks to suit the name. She was a woman who advocated the protection of animals, namely cats and before she had been arrested, had been a high roller in Gotham society and courted by a LOT of guys, one them being said play boy Bruce Wayne.

She was apparently caught by Batman and despite being a thief, she seemed to be willing to fight other criminals as she had tangled a terrorist group with Batman that eventually led to her being captured by said man. All because she wanted to stop them from taking land that was to be a nature preserve.

And while she was released on probation for stopping said terrorists, there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that this was one woman he disliked the idea of being kept locked away. Even if he had only done some preliminary research on her, his time in being a Hokage and his years of experience told him that she was possibly getting frustrated at not being allowed to live the way she wanted to live. And that was something he could relate to since he had always been placed in a situation where he could not be himself. Still, stealing was stealing and considered to be a crime in this reality as well as his own though if she stole from corrupt and foolish criminal bosses and high society people, then he was not going to stop her in any way, shape or form. Only when she harmed others who were not even part of the problem would he stop her if he met her.

The next person was a certain woman who had one heck of an unhealthy obsession with plants, and had the more than fitted name of Poison Ivy. The woman was named Dr. Pamela Isley and was rumored to have been one heck of a botanist in her day and cared a great deal for nature. She apparently had been involved in some form of accident that somehow gave her the ability to command plants, release some form of pheromone that could arouse people and create poisons of a sort in her own body. The one thing that he did not like was said accident supposedly made her unable to have kids, which as far as he knew was a fate most women would have considered worse than death. Still, the woman was undeniably attractive, especially with that getup she usually wore when she did her work.

(Now that is one heck of a killer babe with a green thumb.)

Poison Ivy had more than her fair shares of being stopped by Batman and had been locked up in a place called Arkham Asylum. This place was some sort of hospital and holding center for the criminally insane and dangerous. In his mind, the nuts he dealt with would have felt right at home there, Tobi and Kabuto included. The difference was with this green loving babe was the fact that unlike the other loons and scum, she had NO interest in money and usually did her actions to attack people who had committed actions that were attacks on nature at least to her perspective. And when the word attack was used, that included using lethal force, either with her poisons, or her pet plants.

She was also rumored to be friends with one criminal woman going by the name of Harley Quinn . But so far he had no idea who she was at the moment so that was going to be placed aside for the time being as he saw that there was some activity at the other side of the city. He spotted a figure moving through the shadows and since Batman was recorded to have a cape, this was not Batman as he did not see a cape.

He moved quickly and quietly as best he could while keeping to the shadows to make sure that he did not alert his quarry. Once he was close enough, he spotted the figure break into a nearby tower which looked like it belonged to some very rich fellow. And when he managed to get a glimpse of his target once the figure came back out, he could not help but grin behind his mask.

(Hello…)

…

At said tower…

Selina sighed as she took the jewels and placed in her sachet, she had half expected Batman to show up again to stop her, but with Bane causing havoc alongside Riddler as she had heard on the police band wave, the chances of that happening were slim. And despite the fact she KNEW that she was skirting the limits of her probation from being Catwoman, this was one chance she was not going to let go. Besides, the necklace belonged to a businessman who she knew made his money over the trade of tiger skins, so double impact for her.

The beautiful cat burglar patted the bag and spoke with a measure of relief as she knew that she was in the clear..

"Looks like I'm finally getting away scot-free tonight."

That was when another voice came on the scene behind Selina.

"You might want to rethink that statement Miss."

Catwoman turned and there behind her was a man dressed in an outfit of orange and black, like a ninja and wearing a black short sleeved trench coat with red flames on it. The guy wore a mask and some form of headband with a metal plate on the front and had a strange leaf like symbol on it. She raised an eyebrow since the man was actually sanding on a nearby pole...upside down. And she could tell that there was nothing holding him on said pole which made her all the more curious and while she knew the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat' she knew cats had nine lives as a saying too..

Naruto grinned again behind his mask as he got a VERY good look at Selina Kyle and spoke once more.

"Considering the getup you have, I can wager a safe bet you're Catwoman. And I can easily say the name does you justice."

Selina was curious who this guy was as this was definitely not Batman, and most certainly not Robin or that one named Night Wing and decided to speak next.

"And who are you?"

"I'm the Hokage, and before you ask why I am here, I'm taking a tour of the city, just to see what this place is like. And as far as I can see, the night life is pretty exciting, and despite the fact I am upside down, the view before me is certainly nice."

Selina could easily see this guy was actually flirting with her, a surprise since that did not happen often, usually it was her who did the flirting. Though only to distract people such as Batman when she felt it was better to flee than stay. She decided to smile back and watch as the man moved away from the pole…walking on it and then moving to flip and land on the ledge like a skilled acrobat. That made Selina raise an eyebrow as that was rather interesting and despite herself, somewhat impressive.

"Are you flirting with me Hokage? I thought heroes like you usually waste no time catching crooks like me."

Naruto mentally snickered at that and replied.

"That's true, and I do plan to try and convince you to give those jewels back, but that does not mean I can't enjoy the company right?"

Selina raised an eyebrow at this guy, he was actually flirting with her and maybe that could be his weakness, if he was easily attracted to her, then she might be able to play him. She smiled and beckoned to him with a finger. Naruto decided to do it and as he was close, she spoke to him, while reaching for her whip.

"Sure, but you should know something about cats Hokage..."

"And what is that?"

"We have sharp claws!"

Selina slashed at Naruto and Naruto reeled back as she then attacked him with several attacks, managing to hit his mask and crack it, forcing him back until he moved away that she felt the distance would do and she quickly moved with her whip and left the scene. She moved as quickly as she can, unaware that Naruto was not dissuaded but he merely grinned and soon reached for a special kunai of his.

…

As soon as she had some distance from the man on a roof top and was near a tall wall on said roof. She looked back and saw that he was not following her, she sighed and spoke to herself.

"He's not bad looking body wise, but he's no Batman and did not even try to catch me."

But she got a surprise when she turned and was face to face with Naruto who quickly moved forward until she hit the wall behind her and the mask fell off...revealing his face. Selina saw herself looking at a young but definitely handsome looking blonde with blue eyes that had a lupine quality; there were several whisker like marks on his cheeks that added to the look and his toothy grin revealed slightly sharper than normal canines. That made her feel some surprise as she had not expected that and despite the fact that his face was revealed, the Hokage did not seem to be troubled at all.

Naruto then spoke to her.

"Nice try little Cat, but I also go by another name, and that is Fox, and Foxes like me are very cunning and we're damn persistent when we chase something. So, are we going to the part where we fight for real, or where you give up the jewels, or you can try another way of making me lower my guard and get away with said jewels. All three sound really nice to me though the third option might be more fun."

Naruto then sniffed a bit and grinned more as he spoke.

"Nice perfume by the way, certainly suits you, even more so with the sweat mixed in Catwoman, so what's it going to be?"

That sent shivers up Selina's spine even though she could not know why, or she thought she did as this was the first time a man was this aggressive with her when it came flirting as Batman was the impassive type. But she was not going to let this chance to escape again slip. How this guy managed to get past her and be there was a mystery but that had to wait.

She gave him a grin and spoke once more while moving to press her hands on his chest.

"You're pretty good there Hokage, but aren't you worried that I know what you look like without your mask?"

Naruto did not seem fazed by that and replied.

"Don't think I don't know your real name Catwoman, or better yet, Miss Selina Kyle, I might look like a kid, but I assure you, I am no simple idiot. Besides, all it takes is for you to be revealed to have gone back to being Catwoman and they lock you away for a long time and throw away the key. So, how are we going to play this?"

Selina managed to smile yet she was not the least bit happy that she had been found out by this guy. Everyone who was in the know already knew that she was Catwoman, but she was still hoping to do this to live the way she wanted to live without anyone figuring out. But this guy had just caught her and now she was in trouble…unless she could, convince him to let her go and forget that they ever met.

"You tell me Hokage, you certainly know who I am so you have me at…a disadvantage."

She ran her hand on his chest and then moved to his face which despite her self control, she found to be well formed and hardened, like Batman's and she could not help but reach for the face as well. The marks on his cheeks made her wonder if it was merely tattoos or these were possibly…inherited.

Naruto grinned even more as Selina was doing her best to lay on the charm, and she was really going for it as it was. But he was already making his move while Selina was laying on the charm and decided to let this little cat and mouse…or rather cat and fox game come to an end but not before seeing just how far he could take it.

"I know…so tell you what, why don't we try a competition?"

"Oh?"

"Yep, here's how it's going to be, you try to rob a different place in three days without getting caught by Batman and the cops, but avoid me finding you. If I find you…try to evade me quickly and get to Pier number 19 in Gotham Harbor and avoid having me switch your loot with something else harmless but worthless to you while you try to fight or evade me. If you can do three times in a row then you win and I will not bother you again nor will I stop you from what you love doing."

Selina raised an eyebrow at that and replied.

"Really? Care to tell me why Hokage?"

Naruto grinned and then to Selina's slight shock, the man touched her lips and her chin with his fingers and spoke with a very husky tone into her right ear.

"Way I see it Miss Kyle, you're not a full time villain, you don't kill, sell drugs, weapons, or people, kidnap and all those other things criminals do. You only rob people and that usually pertains to corrupt, petty people who do something that offends you and even if you do rob them, you don't kill unless you have no choice. And you also happen to have a kindness towards animals if what I read about you is right on the money when it concerns wildlife namely cats. Plus you did save this city from a terrorist attack and that wins points in my book. The only time I might take offense to your passion for being the seductive thief that you are, is when you rob the hard working, industrious, and actually respectable people in this city."

"You live your life the way you want, you want freedom and the chance to be yourself, I can respect that easily since I want to have freedom too in my own way and not be forced by others ti live the way they want me to live. In that sense, you can say that in some fashion, you and I are a bit similar though I am no thief like you. If you want to keep doing this without being found out, try to keep up with me here Catwoman."

Selina had to admit that this was the first time she met someone who understood her lifestyle and her wants. However, she was still going to be very wary of him since she knew that going in without seeing all the angles was a bad idea from the beginning. .

"And if you win, what then?"

Naruto then grabbed her by the hips with one hand much to her surprise though she hid it well and spoke once more as he touched her chin again with the other.

"If I win the first day, then I get to see your face. Sure I've seen the pictures, but images don't do justice to seeing the face in the flesh so to speak. Besides, it's only fair since you've seen my face already."

"And what happens on the second day if you win Hokage?"

Naruto enjoyed that as he rubbed his left hand on her hip slowly before speaking.

"Simple, I ask you out on a date, and I'm paying."

That made Selina raise an eyebrow as that was something she did not expect.

" You want to ask me out on a date?"

"Of course a date, a simple lunch and dinner date and I am paying this time with my own money. There's nothing in your files that say you can't have a social life right? And no I am not going to take you to bed or anything like that, I just what to know you and why you chose this life, since we're both in this case on opposing sides of a spectrum I am just curious. And besides, I happen to have a high respect for women so the ONLY time I would take you to bed is IF you allow me to and only if you and I have enough time to know one another. You can always go home afterwards and I won't stalk you, just a willing man and woman on a social get together."

"Hmmm…and the last day?"

Naruto laughed a bit and switched places with Selina as he was now on the wall but this time he had both hands on his hips and moved them to her back. That made Selina take in a brief gasp of air as she looked at the man who was flirting with her in a very aggressive fashion.

"That's when I ask you to pose for a few pictures."

That got Selina's attention and in a not so good way as she looked at him hard and with a frown on her face.

"What did you say?"

Naruto laughed gently and replied.

"Not in THAT way, though a guy can certainly dream about it. No, just some pictures in a set of clothes that you can feel comfortable with. Knowing your social standing before you got busted as Catwoman by a certain tall dark and brooding dude with a rather…creepy attachment to flying mammals, you're bound to have a few dresses here and there. I would be lying though if I said that I don't like to see you in a swim suit, one or two piece is up to you though I recommend black since you would obviously look good in it. After that, I will pretty much leave you alone for the rest of the time I am here in Gotham, which might not be for very long anyway."

"And if I refuse, then you reveal to them that I was being Catwoman again right?"

"Pretty much, so, ball's in your court Catwoman."

Selina decided to make her move as she smiled at the Hokage and moved to kiss him as she spoke to his lips while running her hands on his body again.

"You drive a hard game, but tell me, do you really think that you can win this competition?"

"I caught you off guard didn't I?"

"Perhaps, but a cat always manages to escape, and this time…so will I."

With that, she quickly pushed him back and took out a small number of smoke pellets and tossed it at Naruto. The smoke was blinding but she quickly turned away and escaped. Or so she thought as when she left the building, Naruto merely blew the smoke away with a blast of chakra enhanced wind and moved to see Catwoman on the move yet again, but enjoyed the sight of her retreating form and whistled appreciatively at the view before turning around.

He was going to let her go for now, after all, this was merely the foreplay and he had something to return as well.

…

Later…

Selina sighed a bit as she looked around, hoping that it was all over and she could finally get away with her prize. That Hokage guy however did not make it the least bit easy for her, as that was certainly something she had not readied herself for. The guy was both aggressive and rather forward as he had actually responded with placing his hands on her hips and even had the audacity to touch her back. Plus that competition he had in mind…

(Get a grip Selina, time to go, you've got the jewels so…)

The blonde thief was shocked when she checked her sachet and found that instead of the jewels she took, there was…a stuffed frog doll in her pack and it had a letter in the chest. She took it off and saw that it was a message.

'Nice try but better luck next time, and just so you know, this was a dry run, the real competition starts next week or in this case, at least four days from now so better shape up and get the rust of your joints okay? Because you are about to get a heck of a workout.

P.S

I'm sending the jewels back, and I will alert security this time, so feel free to come and get them if you want. Kero!'

Selina turned and shook her head in slight anger and slight amusement, all this time when she thought she finally had the advantage, that kid had actually switched the jewels with this plush toy and she had thought that her actions had finally worked in letting her get away. But instead she was the one who got robbed and despite her anger at what happened, she had to give the young man credit for the slip.

She turned to see that there was no sign of the Hokage anywhere meaning that he had escaped and that meant that the competition was on between them.

"I am so not going to lose to you young man."

…

A day later…

Naruto cracked a grin as he read the latest bit of news, apparently the reason Batman was not around to catch Catwoman was he was dealing with Bane and Riddler. How those two managed to get themselves working together, he would never know, but he did not mind and while Kurama had expressed a level of interest in fighting this Bane character, he turned down that idea. The thought of breaking into Arkham and being around all those loons and nutjobs just to find one supped up criminal and fight him for the entertainment value, was not in his mind right now.

At the moment, he was currently on his way to grab some take out food from where he was staying. The chance to bring a good meal into his guts was welcome, but he was annoyed by the fact that he could not find a decent ramen restaurant anywhere. The Gothamites as they were called seemed to be fairly interesting in his mind and he was pleased to see that despite the fact that their city did not have a very stellar reputation due to the crime rates, they were proud of their home.

Kurama however had a less than stellar liking for the city as he spoke.

((This place is one of the strangest cities thus far.))

(I suppose so, anyway, we should get ready for another interesting night, hope we can run into more company in the city.)

((Hmph, I hope that we can finally see just what this…Batman is capable of. Anyway, are you sure that you did the right thing in letting that very attractive woman go like that last night?))

(You mean Selina Kyle right?)

((Yeah, I mean seriously Naruto, she was FINE, and certainly looks good in the clothes, not like the women in your past but certainly comes close. For all you know, both of you could have made quite a set, not to mention the fact that she would have been one heck of a lady in the sack.))

(I swear you sound like the Pervy Sage.)

((And that's supposed to be a bad thing? Considering the fact that you yourself are quite the pervert and don't bother denying it because we both know it's true. Besides if you decide to go for it, your experiences when it comes to the bedroom might really make her happy. She might very well join you willingly since you don't happen to be so uptight with the law and all.))

(Hah! Yeah well no sense crying over spilled milk as they say. Besides, we've got another week before we leave this place. And besides, that encounter is going to give me a lot of data to make the next novel.)

Kurama snorted a bit and replied before going to sleep.

((Yeah well, Novels and books don't come close to doing the real thing with a woman, or MORE than one woman as you already know.))

Naruto could not help but agree to the truth in Kurama's words, nothing beat actually doing with it a willing woman, or in his case, more than one willing woman. Then again, even after being married, his former sensei Kakashi never got rid of the books and Ayame certainly didn't mind. He was willing to wager a guess that Kakashi used the books that Jiraiya made to spice up his love life with Ayame.

The blonde placed the thoughts aside as he ate his food and then headed back to his hideout to get some work done. The blonde Shinobi was more than willing to get a chance to meet any other new figures in Gotham though he was hoping to see if he was going to meet Batman and his crew to see just what this guy was about.

Once he got to the hideout, he began to work and also plan something on the off chance he was discovered.

…

Later that night…

Naruto was currently using his Senjutsu chakra once more as he was on the highest tower in Gotham while balancing himself on a thin sheet of marble on the tip of the Tower. This allowed him to scan the city section by section since that was needed due to the nature of the flow of natural energy in the place.

He was looking forward to the chance to have that competition with Selina Kyle since she was good and a test of skill was something he did look forward to. Of course Kurama had other ideas at the time and he could not help but shake his head at some of the suggestions his demonic resident and still slightly reluctant partner had towards the woman.

It would have been a lie though that he did not find those same suggestions very interesting and he had to keep those from conjuring perverted ideas into his head. But for now, he was going to indulge them at a later date since he now had to go and see if he could find out what was going on in the city. He soon got up and fired a chakra chain to move to the next building below and as soon as he swung away, he headed from building to building. That was when he spotted someone or rather three people moving over the roof tops.

That piqued Naruto's interest as he began to move in the shadows while making sure to keep the three on sight. He moved close enough to finally see them and he grinned.

"Well now… if it isn't the Batman himself, certainly looks the part and the name, and that must be his accomplices."

He moved ever closer to see both Robin and Batgirl, he had read the data that he could find and knew that both Robin and Batgirl were accomplished fighters and were part of the team. Though there was another named Night Wing, he had not seen that guy as of yet but decided to shelve that thought aside for now as he kept watch on the three. All the while making sure to be silent and still, not an easy thing for him considering his personality, but he had learned enough to get by. So far Batman did not react and when he used his Senjutsu senses, he could tell that they had not found him yet.

Once they were clear, the blonde Shinobi followed them at they reached a warehouse which appeared to be occupied, he wagered a guess that the people who were there were not the law abiding kind. And as he moved through the shadows behind Batman and his group, he was able to see them in action, he saw how batman fought and the Taijutsu stance that the man was using was more than enough to tell him that Batman was well trained. The way the guy moved spoke of intense training and discipline as well as years of experience, he did not try to just power through a foe, he was intelligent, patient, cunning, and also agile despite the build the guy had.

Naruto nodded in approval as Batman continued to fight several of the crooks attacking him as he switched his attention to the others. Robin appeared to be less disciplined yet was unpredictable in his attack style so that told Naruto that the young man had some street fighting background to him, though tempered no doubt by his boss's training methods and tactics. But Naruto did notice that the guy was a bit too overzealous and a bit too forceful as well in his attacks, the guy could recover well enough but that action still left him vulnerable to counterattack as one of the thugs managed to get close enough to grab him in a bear hug from behind. Robin managed to free himself and knock the guy down but Naruto could tell that he was still going to be needing improvement.

As for Batgirl, Naruto had to give her credit for the look as well as her fighting skills, apparently she had been trained well in Taijutsu and no doubt had prior training in self defense before being the costumed fighter that she was. And considering the way the various criminal elements that called this city home, he was hardly surprised by the fact that she had to defend herself on a regular basis. He watched them fight the thugs and he could tell that they were more than experienced in fighting side by side and alone though he could guess that Batman was the more seasoned of the whole group being the senior. In this case, Batman was like a Jonin and the two were either Genin or Chuunin had they been born in his world.

It was there and then that he sensed something was about to happen and he decided that now was the time to go in and make a move of his own.

…

Barbara was not going to like this as she managed to knock down the thug while fighting alongside Batman and Robin who were also dealing with their own foes. The smuggling ring they had busted up happened to be well armed and while some of them had been taken out by her and the others, the rest were putting up a heck of a fight. Unknown to her however, one of the thugs had snuck up to a crane that was carrying a number of crates and then cut at the net with a knife.

Robin spotted him and quickly tossed one of his robin themed boomerangs at the man, it was enough to knock the guy out, but the now weakened net tore up and down came the crates. Batman saw that too and shouted to Barbara.

"Batgirl! Move!"

Barbara looked up and her eyes widened at the sight as she saw the crates coming down, she tried to move but the shock had temporarily stopped her from reaching for her grappling gun or to move away. However she was not going to be lost under the crates or killed as a certain someone made his very own move to help her from her predicament.

The last thing she saw was large amount of smoke and then she was being held bridal style in someone's arms, she looked to see herself looking at a face covered by a mask that had a fox like appearance and a metal plate on the forehead area with a strange leaf like symbol in the metal. Barbara was quite shocked by this and heard the massive crash, turned and to her surprise, she was at least three stories up where the crates could have crushed her into nothing but pulp. She looked back at the figure and managed to find her voice and spoke.

"Uh…thanks."

"No problem miss, hold on."

That was her only warning as the guy leaped from the beams and began to move down, and as soon as they landed, another thug charged but the new arrival quickly reacted by leaping forward with her still in his arms, and smashed a kick into the face, sending the guy down and placing her to the floor. He then turned and to her surprise took out what appeared to be ninja throwing stars and tossed them at the next attacker who was armed with a pipe. That managed to stop him and pin him to the wall. Another attacker came and she turned to fight back, only for the masked being to move and block the incoming crowbar with what appeared to be some sort of diamond shaped metallic knife.

She then saw it actually shimmer a bit and the crowbar was suddenly cut as her rescuer then unleashed a powerful side kick that sent the man flying to the side. And right into a number of crates, showing that this fellow with the Fox mask was a lot stronger than he actually looked.

All of that was in a span of a few seconds as well and it was not long before the smuggler thugs were down and out. It was here that Batman was accompanied by Robin and was now before the masked ninja. Barbara was soon moving to the side and was with Batman and Robin.

Naruto could already see that he was now being assessed by Batman, this guy was very good and after what he had seen, he could easily tell that Batman had been trained extensively in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, though he doubted that this world's version ninjas had the same level of ability as the ninjas of his world. He also had no doubt that Batman was going to come in hard on him and try to get some answers out of him when he saw a chance.

And he was right as Batman spoke.

"You're the Hokage."

Naruto tried to lighten the mood though he had a feeling that the guy in black was not going to rise to the bait as it were.

"Good guess Batman, shame I can't give you a reward for the guess, you willing to take an IOU?"

Robin and Batgirl were surprised by the way the guy was talking to Bruce, it was as if he was not bothered by the fact that Bruce was giving him the third degree.

Bruce himself was not amused and sternly glared at the man before him, still he noted that despite the attitude, the Hokage was also watching him intently. The body language did not give anything away, and that alone was telling to him, as the only way someone could do that was when the person was very well trained and experienced. Whoever this Hokage was, there was no doubt in Bruce's mind that he was someone who merely dressed up as a ninja. And the way he used the ninja stars and that knife told Bruce that this guy was a veteran fighter with some serious strength and stamina.

But right now, he was in the mood to get some answers.

"What are you doing here in Gotham?"

"Just passing through, I ain't here to steal your thunder or that of your running partners. I was just cruising along the area when I saw what was going down, and decided to observe the whole thing. Only decided to get involved with the whole thing when your lady partner was about to be turned into a mess on the floor."

That got Bruce's attention as that meant that the whole time he, Barbara, and Tim were fighting, this guy had been watching them. He had trained himself to have a very high level of situational awareness and his years of training and experience, only made it stronger. To know that this guy had been here the whole time and had not gotten his attention was enough to tell him that this guy was VERY well trained and possibly experienced to a level that was above normal.

(Whoever trained him was good. But that still does not mean that I am going to let him go scot-free.)

"Really? I saw the news when you showed up in L.A and then in Metropolis, and I can tell that you are no ordinary person."

Naruto decided to try and experiment and spoke seriously in Japanese, he had a feeling that if Batman had been trained by a Ninja master, then knowing the language was going to be second nature to him.

("You have no idea how different I am Batman, but I can bet that as you were trained by a ninja master, you already guessed that didn't you?")

And sure enough, Batman did not disappoint Naruto as he responded in Japanese.

("It didn't, the way you fought and moved tell me you are no mere kid, you were trained not by some simple martial artist, but a top ranked assassin and no doubt you had other teachers as well. You also showed that you have strong combat experience and reflexes, only way you could earn that level of skill is not just through training alone, but by being placed in situations that demanded skill and innovation. And because of that, I can bet that you have been doing those things for years until you can do it with out conscious thought.")

Naruto grinned at that and replied.

("Good, you're as every bit as skilled as I read in the news Batman, and I can tell that you trained your two companions personally, though I can bet that they still have a long way to go to reach your level. You're master was no doubt a very good man and someone you respected a great deal and was a good influence to you. Now the question in my mind is what you are going to do now with me.")

("It should be obvious that I have to make sure that you are not a threat in disguise. I don't trust you one bit Hokage.")

("You really need to loosen up ya know. Considering what you know about me already, do you really think that I am going to go with you quietly? I ain't got any issue with you but if you want to try and stop me, you're welcome to try.")

Barbara and Tim looked at the two in utter annoyance and confusion since none of them had taken a Japanese language course for different reasons and thus they were not able to understand the conversation. But it was obvious to the two that both the Hokage and Batman were studying each other very carefully, no doubt waiting for them to make one move that could change the whole situation in a heart beat.

That was when Barbara spoke.

"Hey, not to butt in or anything, but how is it you got to me so fast and get me away from the crates?"

Naruto grinned and moved over to the crates and moved some away, showing some of his strength and to the surprise of the heroes, where Barbara was before, was a battered and cracked log. The blonde then replied to the question of the redhead as he knew that she was in need of an explanation.

"I used a special Jutsu to get you out of the way, it was a basic move that is basically thought to all ninja, and quite possibly familiar to your tall, dark, and brooding boss over there. I switched this log for you and got you out of the way and you were there in my arms, I would have to be a seriously stupid dolt to let a very strong and nice looking lady being reduced into a pancake."

Barbara could not help but raise an eyebrow as she could sense that the guy was flirting with her, and that was a bit surprising as the only one who did that was Dick. The former Robin, now Night wing was currently setting up shop outside of Gotham and while they were still on very good terms with one another, it was a bit of a strain between their relationship that they were apart.

"Okay…so what do you do with you?"

"Well, way I see it, you three can either let me go since we're pretty much on the same side. Or you both can do things your boss's way since he plans to take me away for questioning since he apparently has major trust issues towards the new people."

Tim and Barbara looked at Bruce and he nodded.

"We can't be too sure about his intentions or who he is."

Barbara and Tim knew that Bruce did have a point and looked to face Naruto who was already working on how to get away before the situation went down south. The two looked at him and Batman was already getting ready on the off chance that Naruto did something. Naruto did something all right, but not in the way that the three expected as he moved at amazing speed and yanked out his swords and jammed them into the ground.

As he did so, he channeled his Wind Chakra and shouted out.

"FUUTON! RASEN KAZE!"

The attack unleashed a sphere of pure wind that catches the three off guard as they were suddenly blasted by wind forces that were category 3 in strength. That forced them back a fair distance to the point they had to use their grappling ropes to hold on the supports. The dust and debris blinded them as Naruto finally spoke.

"Sorry about that, but there's no freaking way that I and going to let myself get caught by anyone just yet. Bye!"

Naruto then aimed upward as he placed his swords away, the three only saw a glowing chain suddenly lash up and soon the man left the area as the wind died down. As soon as things seemed to calm down a bit more they got away from where they all had anchored themselves and soon moved to find any trace of the Hokage. But they were not able to find any trace of the man now.

Batman wiped his eyes a bit and looked at the place where Naruto had been and knew that they were going to be in for a very interesting time. It was here that the police came in and that was the signal for him, Tim, and Barbara to move out of the area and get away from the regular police. They soon met with Commissioner Gordon who was surprised to find out that someone else had come in on the scene and from Batman's description and that of Robin and Batgirl, he was quick to guess just who it was.

"The Hokage is here?"

"Yes, but we lost sight of him so I believe it would be best we be watchful then. He's not exactly the kind of person who one can ignore without good reason."

Batman talked with Gordon more and soon they were off to the Bat Cave, as he had a lot to talk about with the two. The way that Hokage fought was more than convincing to Batman that he was no simple kid and was possibly a LOT older than he looked. His memories of his encounters with Talia's father Raz a'Ghul told him that if there is something odd about someone, it usually was not too good.

Once they got there, Tim took off his mask and spoke in a serious tone though with some annoyance as he rubbed his back from the sudden attack of wind.

"Man, what the heck was that he used on us? I felt like I got caught in a twister all of a sudden!"

Barbara nodded in agreement as she spoke next.

"Same here, could he have some sort of alien, like Kara and Clark, or is he a Meta-human with Wind manipulation powers?"

Bruce took off his cowl and shook his head a bit.

"No, as far as records show, most if not all meta-humans don't have to do those things like jamming swords into the ground, I doubt that move was for show. And if he was a Meta-human, then he would have to be very well trained at that."

"Government trained and sanctioned maybe?"

Bruce shook his head at Tim's suggestion, as despite the way things looked, the government would not allow that, plus the fact that the man spoke Japanese with some strange accent told him that the US government was not part of it. Plus everything about the Hokage screamed ninja training though the choice of orange in his ensemble as well as red made Bruce even more curious.

"I doubt it, the government does not have a hand in this, besides that, the weapons he carried were well made with these being different. They don't sell this in novelty stores after all, these look better made and possibly hand crafted as well as sharpened."

Bruce referred to the shuriken they recovered earlier as he took them for the dusting of prints. He needed to know of this guy was recorded in the national and international database and soon. But he was surprised to find that there were no finger prints, meaning that he was not going to get anywhere in that avenue.

After some time in figuring out his plans on how to deal with the Hokage, he spent some time putting Barbara and Tim through some simulations, much to their chagrin. Thankfully it was not too long as he gave them the chance to unwind and get some much needed sleep, Tim was quick to head up and chat with Alfred and get some food and drink before getting some shut eye, while Barbara did the same before she would head home, after all, she did have a life outside of being Batgirl.

Bruce checked the news and saw that as clockwork, word of the Hokage's arrival was released to the public of Gotham, and the rest of the world. There was no doubt in his mind that Clark was going to soon pay him a visit, after all, he had encountered the Hokage already so some input from the Kryptonian was a must if they were going to solve the mystery on who the Hokage was and what were his plans and intentions.

…

As for Naruto, he was currently getting himself ready for the chance to finally cross paths with Selina and possibly have some fun while he was here. He made sure however to get as much shut eye as he could and also update his work as he had gotten an email from his editor that there were increasing demands for more of his work. Once that was out of the way after several hours, the blonde decided to go and grab some much needed shut eye for what was to come to him.

…

In Wayne Manor the next day…

Bruce was currently awake and doing the usual routine of running the company and making the calls. It was here that he was waiting for someone to show up, someone he had called to come to Gotham for a very important purpose. And it was not long before Alfred appeared and spoke to the billionaire.

"Master Bruce, Mr. Clark Kent has arrived."

Bruce nodded as Clark appeared as the Kryptonian then spoke to the butler.

"Thanks Alfred."

"Think nothing of it Mr. Kent, would you like some tea and breakfast, you must be tired from the trip?"

Clark smiled at the butler as he respected Alfred, after all, even though he did not pry into Bruce's life, he could easily tell that Alfred was more than an employed manservant. He placed that aside for the time being as he spoke to Alfred.

"Sure, some tea and simple crackers would be nice."

"Of course."

As Alfred left the room, both heroes spoke to one another with Clark speaking first to Bruce.

"I heard that the Hokage was here and I was able to tell Perry about it so he sent me here to try and get some news on him."

"That's the official reason I take it?"

"Yeah, the real reason is that he knows who I am Bruce."

That got the attention of the billionaire crime fighter as he knew that Clark was very capable of hiding his identity for years since he came to Metropolis. No one who he did not trust and were close to him knew of his dual identity as Superman. But now this unknown hero who had some very strange abilities had actually found Clark out? That was a surprising thought and as much as he did not want to admit it, Bruce was a bit worried, if the Hokage figured that Clark was Superman, there was a chance that he might figure out that he and Batman were one in the same.

"How exactly did that happen?"

"I have no idea, all I know is that he was able to find out about me only hours after we met. I get the feeling he must have been tracking me for a while though how he did it without alerting me is shocking."

Bruce thought over what he had experienced with the Hokage personally and replied.

"Not as shocking as you might think, me Tim, and Barbara encountered him last night, and I can tell that despite his teenage form, he's a lot more skilled than he looks. The fact was that he had been observing us the whole time we were dealing with a smuggling ring, and the only time we found him was when he chose to reveal himself. That tells me that whoever trained him was a top notch assassin since there's no denying that his skills are like that of a ninja. Possibly he must also have a very high level of control over his body to have been able to avoid your senses, and he possibly had other trainers as well."

Both men thought things over as Clark spoke.

"What else did you find out?"

Bruce took out one of the recovered shuriken and replied.

"We recovered this weapon of his from the warehouse when he managed to evade us before I could tag him. This is a traditional ninja shuriken and it's very well made, good quality steel and specially sharpened for balance and flight, along with cutting power. This tells me that he did not buy this in some novelty store, he possibly had this custom made, or forged and sharpened this himself. This shuriken is quality work, similar to the same shuriken used by an old foe of mine so there's no doubt he was very well trained."

Clark took the weapon and could see that Bruce was right, he might not know ninjas all that well, but there was no denying that the weapons was very well made. Bruce then spoke to Clark as he recalled that strange but unique ability the man possessed.

"He also had the ability to manipulate wind to a degree, we were about to capture him when he used some form of weather manipulation to send me and the others back from him."

"He's a meta-human?"

"That's possible, but we'll leave that for now, if you plan to find out what you can of him, this is the best time for it. If what he did in Metropolis is any indication, he will not be here for long in Gotham."

Clark nodded as he decided to take his time and find a chance to finally speak to the blonde Hokage and figure out just how he had found him out. He had no plans to fight the young man since technically he was not an enemy, but he doubted that Bruce was going to make things that simple or straight forward.

…

The next night…

Naruto was busy tracking down some band of crooks just to see how far they were going to go and he was not the least bit tired yet. He noted something odd about these guys and that was that while they were acting like regular robbers, what they stole was certainly not regular stuff. A large amount of chemicals and plants if one can believe that, which was enough to tell him that these guys were not your regular thieves. He had spent the morning working on his novel series and also his manga and that took most of the morning and afternoon, but as night fell, he decided to go outside and see what was there to do and who he was going to meet.

As he watched the thieves move about, he was quite surprised to find them moving into the sewers and he growled at that.

(Great, this is one of the times I wished I did not have a nose.)

((That's nothing compared to the view I have to content with in that old sewer you called your mind, at least you took a different approach even if I am still in the cage.))

(We're partners remember Kurama? Now we're going in, who knows, this might get interesting.)

((Right…))

Naruto followed the thieves and as he did so, he also made sure to be thankful that his mask managed to at least guard him from some of the smell. How the people could tolerate these things he would never know, but he was not going to waste time arguing as he began to think to himself on what was it these guys were only robbing plants and chemicals. He got his answer as he suddenly spotted them going out of the sewers to go into another one where a massive factory was. And he could see that the factory in question was releasing a fairly bad amount of chemicals into the nearby water.

He shook his head and moved after the thieves carefully and once more entered the sewers, much to his disgust and soon he found them. Only to find them down on the ground and dead, and he saw the marks on their lips that was the sign of poison. That made him raise his eyebrows and he used his Senjutsu again to sense the energy around him even though it was not easy. He felt a chakra signature and sensed one that felt like a fusion of some sort, similar to him when he tapped into Nature energy though there was a plant like feel to it as well.

That was more than enough to tell him that he was dealing with Poison Ivy this time around, he sighed mentally and headed off to track her down and stop her. He had no idea who owned this place, but considering what he had seen thus far, it was clear to him just what Ivy had in mind for the people who worked in the factory. He however could not help but mentally whistle at the sight of the woman as images of the woman did not do her justice.

One thing was sure, the femme fatale tag that was given to her was well deserved, especially considering her ability to kill with a touch or kiss when she wanted to do so. He got closer and also could see that she was carrying a container of sorts, enough to make him guess that she was soon going to make her move on her foes and now he was going to make his move.

"What the heck are you doing here?"

"Oh, this is new, I was expecting Batman and his little posse to deal with me this time around, but I had been keeping myself under the radar the whole time. Now it seems that I have a new visitor."

The woman turned and saw the Hokage and Naruto had to raise his eyebrow a bit behind his mask as the woman spoke once more.

"You are certainly not Batman, nor Robin, nor Night Wing as the older one calls himself now. And before you say anything, I know who you are, Hokage."

"Have you now, well you can bet that I am not going to let you do what you like."

Poison Ivy smirked and replied.

"I guessed that, but apparently you are not very familiar with who I am or what I can do, now let's see how you deal with my babies."

Naruto knew what that meant as he did read her profile but decided to play the naïve guy first, as he had an idea on playing some tricks on the woman. That was why he allowed himself to be restrained by the vines that came out of the ground nearby.

Poison Ivy smiled a bit as she walked over to the restrained Hokage and enjoyed the chance to finally have someone else in her clutches for a change of pace. She was expecting Batman to try and stop her from using her special seeds to attack the water supply of a factory that was poisoning the waters near a plot of land that she felt would be a great site for some wild plants that were very rare in her mind. But instead of the Dark Knight...it was this guy who apparently was not all that familiar with her powers and abilities, such a shame.

The Hokage tried to free himself from her vines as she decided to end him once and for all, she reached for his face and with him being affected by her neural toxin she was able to remove his mask. The man was rather handsome, young looking and she had to admit that the whisker marks on his face made him have a feral look. The guy looked at her with deep blue eyes that also seemed to have a strange but attractive quality in them so she had to admit that killing someone like him was a waste, but she was not going to be dissuaded in her mission by anyone.

The guy struggled and she held him by the face and spoke seductively.

"You should not struggle so much, take heart in the fact that your last kiss in this life is coming from me and for you, I will make your death slow."

The young man glared and she kissed him and allowed her poison to flow into him, she felt his struggles begin to slacken and when she moved back, the guy looked at her and she saw his eyes glow in defiance and soon faded away as his head dropped to his chest.

She sighed and spoke to herself,

"Shame you had to die handsome, but I have my mission, you can release him my darlings."

The vines did what she asked and she walked off to do her work, but she was about to discover something about her foe that was totally unexpected. She then heard his voice again and that stopped her right in her tracks in utter shock.

"Not a bad kiss Ivy-chan, but I think that you are using too simple a kissing technique. Have you considered trying a French kiss instead of just pressing your lips? That might work a lot better than you think."

Pamela turned around and was shocked to see the man she had kissed and see drop dead was now standing up there before her alive...and grinning in a very amused fashion as he moved closer to her. She thought of using her crossbow but before she could do that, there was a loud screech of metal and she looked at her weapon and found out that the triggering mechanism was destroyed by a large metallic needle. She tried to use her fist but when she tried to slug him, he moved very fast and literally faded from view.

"What the?"

(Not even Batman is that fast!)

"Nice try Ivy-chan, but you need to move faster than that. I only allowed your plants to catch me to have an idea of your skills, and while you get an A for the seduction bit, you failed in some others as well."

She turned and tried spot her foe and shouted.

"How can you be alive? My kiss can kill any man."

"Well as you have found out, I am no ordinary man, and if you think I am pulling your chain, why don't I kiss you for a change?"

That surprised the female super villain as no one was crazy enough to try kissing her of their own free will. But somehow this guy was immune to her kiss, which was impossible as she was the only one able to make the antidote for all the poisons she unleashed with her lips. She turned and there was the man before her, grinning once more and before she could react, he kissed her and he was not dropping dead at all.

His kiss was light and yet it seemed to be strong and masculine and that had a very interesting effect on her as he pressed his lips a bit more on her own and he still was not dropping dead at all she even felt him lick her lips as well with his tongue. He then replied in a very teasing tone as if he could sense that he had somehow knocked her senseless.

"Come on Ivy-chan, put some more power in the kiss, you're not getting flustered by the fact that I am a man who's immune to your kiss of death are you?"

She pushed him away and he laughed gently and spoke in a teasing tone.

"You ARE getting flustered! You're blushing so hard you're face is like a rose like your hair! That adds to the beauty you've already got you know, care to try again Ivy-chan? I promise I'll show you how to kiss better if you let me."

Ivy did not wait to try and figure things out as she shouted as her plants began to react to her emotions.

"No! I will not accept this! Stop him my darlings!"

The plants moved at their mistress's commands and Naruto managed to avoid them and this time around he was not going to let Ivy's pets get to him. He quickly took out one of his swords and began to cut down the vines that were trying to get to him. He saw that Ivy was looking at him in utter horror and confusion, the first emotion was nod doubt since he was killing her plant pets, and the second emotion was there due to the fact that he was still alive.

Truth be told, the reason or rather reasons that he was still alive was his more than ample vitality, Bloodline, Senjutsu training, and the chakra given to him by Kurama. But he was not going to reveal that for any reason as he was enjoying the situation a little too much. Poison Ivy was still sending the vines at him and he cut them down until he decided to make a move as he suddenly faded from the view of Ivy.

She backed away, only to bump into him as she turned around to back hand him, Naruto ducked the attack and was soon before Ivy and he quickly kissed her again. Once more Ivy was shocked to see that he was not dropping dead or screaming in pain from the toxins she normally would have unleashed via contact and it was becoming difficult for her to react.

Naruto then spoke to her huskily into her ear as he broke the contact with her lips.

"You know, I can respect the whole idea of protecting nature and all that, but I am still going to stop you since what you are going to is going to kill people, you think killing them is going to be the answer?"

Ivy looked at Naruto darkly as she replied.

"They are harming the environment! Killing nature! You think that you can do better than what I am doing?"

"You'll be surprised what being less violent can bring you Ivy-chan, I know all there is about you and what you used to do and who you used to be. You're taken this love for nature a LITTLE too far don't you think?"

Ivy snorted and tried to launch another series of kicks at Naruto who could see that despite her experience, she had not ever faced anyone who could fight her without being hampered by her poisons. All the while, she spoke to him and she was frowning a great deal as she was no doubt getting annoyed by the fact that she was not yet able to hit him.

"What do you care? No doubt you think you can exploit nature just like them. They ignore the fact that this world is fragile and they can do what they like! I am the only one who can protect Nature! She deserves to be protected!"

"And you think killing is going to do that? Especially when you consider the fact that what you will do can kill people who are not part of your plans? You think that your attack will only target the ones you want in this factory? What happens when innocent people are poisoned in the long run or killed by what you intend to do? The factory workers there have no idea about what their company is doing and they are only working there to earn money to pay for their bills, pay their taxes, feed house and clothe their families. Do they deserve to die just for doing what they can to take care of their families and give a future for them?"

Naruto stopped attacking Ivy at this point as she looked back at him as he spoke seriously.

"You may target those who you feel commit crimes towards nature, but have you ever considered the fact that you could also be attacking people who either do not know it or were just trying to go about with their lives and had no idea about it? I know about the accident that gave you your powers, but I can bet that there was a cost to it as well. If there is something I learned in my life, there's always a cost to having power."

"You don't know what you are talking about! Leave me alone!"

"I know that your accident denied you ever being able to have kids and I know that the idea of never being able to have children is a fate most if not all women think is worse than death. Because losing the ability to have children takes away the ability to bring new life into the world which is why women are the ones who are able to have children and it's never the men who can do that. That's why you care deeply for nature, you care for plants because they are the only things you can nurture and grow yourself. They're taking the place of those who you could have called your family aren't they? You protect nature because you want to be able to feel like a mother when you can never be one yourself?"

Ivy glared at him and then lashed out with the plants once more, Naruto however evaded them and he replied.

"I struck a nerve didn't I Ivy-chan?"

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!"

Naruto moved and grabbed her fist and replied.

"I might not know YOU, but I do know how important nature is. If you want me to prove my point then let me show you."

Ivy did not understand why but he was serious and she replied.

"If you're lying to me…I'll make you regret it, even if you are indeed immune to my poisons!"

Naruto nodded and then spotted a dying plant in a pot, no doubt left behind and was already nothing more than a shriveled little thing in poor soil. It was the perfect test subject for his little demonstration and he took it before him as he sat down cross-legged. Ivy watched as Naruto focused into himself and accessed the growing reserve of purified chakra he got from Kurama. The energy was still very potent and Kurama was willing to part with portions of it once in a while and his hands were coated in deep blue chakra energy.

"What the?"

Ivy was surprised as she suddenly saw the glowing energy coming from the Hokage's hands and it seemed to make the air feel…alive for some reason. She felt her body somehow react to the energy in a rather…pleasant way and she looked to see that her plants seemed to be calmed by the energy. But what really got her attention was the plant that Naruto had found as Naruto placed his hands with the energy on either side of the plant. The once dead and decaying thing actually began to grow again.

The eco-terrorist watched in shock as the plant began to gain new life, the bark became healthy against, the branches grew longer and stronger, leave sprouted out, and beautiful violets came from the plant. In a few moments what was once a dead and gone plant that made her furious at humans who cared little for life was brought back to life by this man.

Naruto grinned a bit as he took the plant and channeled some more Yang chakra into the soil to make it more healthy. He then got up and moved to a stunned Ivy and gave her the blooming plant as he spoke next to her.

"Here you go Ivy-chan, I think this plant will do well under your care."

Ivy touched the plant, trying to see if the whole thing was some illusion and she was being tricked, but there was no trick at all. She could sense that the plant before her was truly healthy and blooming. The soil that was in the pot also felt different, the soil seemed to be alive and tingled with energy and could be strong enough to sustain the plant for months despite the fact that it should be already barren. She studied the plant again and again and seeing that the plant was indeed real she looked at Naruto and spoke.

"How did you do this?"

Naruto grinned and replied.

"Now that would be telling Ivy-chan, after all even a man has got to have some secrets right? What I can say is that the energy I have is unique to me and when I use it, I can affect life and nature itself in a positive way. Care to feel it as well Ivy-chan?"

Naruto gently placed his hand on Ivy's cheek and to the redhead's surprise, the energy that she felt from the Hokage's hand seemed to make her feel a level of warmth and sensation that felt very pleasant, almost to the point that she actually moaned. She realized that in a moment and looked at Naruto who grinned a bit more and even gave her a very knowing smirk.

"You like that don't you Ivy-chan?"

Ivy looked at him and spoke seriously.

"How are you able to do all of that? Are you a Meta-human?"

"No though I have no clue what meta-human means just yet, but as you can guess, I'm not your average human. You know, if you want to make a contribution to nature, you make sure to get people on YOUR side for once instead of scaring the living daylights out of them or killing them. I mean seriously Ivy-chan, you have a lot of power already but you can't expect people to change their ways right off the bat. The more you fight like a terrorist, the more likely you make enemies. Try having some allies on your side for a bit, see how it goes since the more allies and less enemies you have, the better off you might be in the long run."

"You expect me to side with the people who are taking nature for granted?"

"Not ALL people take nature for granted you know, some of them know that if Nature gets ruined, then where will they go from here? There are people who care about nature as much as you do, and despite that they are not always listened to, they do get things done. Just try to defeat your foes without killing them, I kill my foes too of course, but only when I have to protect my precious people or to keep innocent people from being hurt. Besides, if you have the law on YOUR side and not on their side, wouldn't it be a lot easier for you to do what you want and defend nature since at least you don't have to worry about Batman and the cops as well as the government?"

Ivy thought it over and had to admit that the Hokage did have a point there, it was at times easier if the law was on one's side and not digging it's talons into the sides of said person. And while she was a radical, there were others like her, like those men and women willing to give the Japanese fisherman a serious headache when they go for harpooning whales. She did not really have a deep liking for whales, but she understood the reasons behind their actions and she could respect their willingness to risk being labeled as pirates. And while they had to follow the laws when the carried a flag of another nation on their missions, those same laws prevented them from being prosecuted on sight by their foes since they did not want to cause an international incident.

However, that still left the blonde before her as she spoke towards him.

"And what about you Hokage, what exactly are you going to do with me?"

Naruto replied with a smirk.

"Obviously I am only going to stop you from killing people even if they are guilty of what you feel are crimes against nature. If you try to fight them without killing them unless you have to, that might not bother me too much. But when you harm innocent people in your vendetta intentionally, that when the kid gloves are off Ivy-chan. And truth be told, compared to the others I have dealt with, you are going to be in serious trouble with them than just me. I pretty much leave you to your own devices unless you cross the line. I might like nature, but I am not going to kill people intentionally for it since you forget that people are part of nature's plans to even if humans are the dangerous ones. There ARE humans who can save nature to, just like you though not to that level."

"I'm not exactly…human anymore you do know that right?"

"Yeah, but you have the heart of a human, you can be a force of nature for sure, heck by all rights you could be ranked as a nature goddess with those powers of yours, but you have a human mind, body, heart and senses. And humans know when to punish and when to nurture, you might have gotten these powers at an accident, but you can use them to protect and heal just as much as you can harm and kill. If you can become more than you are and have allies on your side, I have a feeling your mission will be less difficult. Plus you can recover what it means to care for ALL life, not just plants."

Naruto then grinned a bit more perversely as he replied.

"Besides that, I can help you in another fashion."

Ivy raised her eyebrow as he moved forward and whispered into her ear.

"I can let you experience what it means to be a beautiful woman who is attractive to a man Ivy-chan. And that means in a very physical fashion if you feel so inclined."

THAT got Ivy to blush bright red to the point her face was like a rose and she looked at him in shock as he smiled even more.

"Did I get you hot and bothered by any chance Ivy-chan? Please say yes."

"You can't possibly be serious!"

Naruto grinned and replied as he moved to Ivy once more and she did not react negatively as he traced her lips with his finger.

"Oh but I am Ivy-chan, after all, I am quite possibly the ONLY man at this point who is immune to your toxins and poisons, as well as your pheromones. But I doubt you need the last power to get MY attention on you, and there's the fact that I am not an enemy of yours unless you make me into one. I also have the power to nurture nature as well as caring for it as you do though in a more moderate fashion. Plus, my skills can help you gather all the evidence you need to nail enemies to the wall. And there's the fact that I have a LOT of experience when it comes to making women VERY happy as well. You might not be able to have a chance to be a mother in the human way, but that hardly means you can't be a woman in the human way either."

Naruto stopped to let that all sink into Ivy's head and he replied as he could see that she had taken it all in.

"Now then, if you plan to go ahead with your previous intent, I am going to fight seriously and you can bet Ivy-chan that this might not end well for you since you can't defeat me with poisons and toxins, and as you have seen, I am NOT in the same league as Batman. Or you can call this off and take what I suggested into consideration, and if you need convincing, then I am MORE than willing to do just that."

…

Later…

As Naruto got out of the sewers, he swore that he was going to clean up and shower after all that, he had smelled pretty horrid things before, but a Gotham sewer was one experience he had NO intention of repeating. But at least he managed to stop Ivy from her plans and hopefully made her change her ways. He doubted that one night was going to cut it, but there was no sense in trying it out right?

Besides, he was not joking about letting Ivy have some male company for once in her life. After all, he was not an enemy of hers unless she did something that could harm innocent people, he respected nature in a fashion that was similar to her, and he was naturally immune to her poisons and toxins so dying from her touch or kiss would not happen any time soon. Besides, he would have to admit that the idea of being intimate with someone that good looking and dangerous had a very nice charm to it.

That was something that Kurama commented on.

((You certainly stepped into it now brat, I can't believe you actually want that to happen between the two of you.))

(I gave my word after all Kurama, and you know me, I back my words with action.)

((Hmph! I know that kit, that's the reason you and I have managed to work together well for the past many years and the reason I learned to respect and even like you. Still, you have grown some serious balls as you humans call it. You do know that if it was not for the facts that your Uzumaki bloodline gives you the vitality and stamina, your Senjutsu training which you have been working on like mad, and my ability to heal you of injury and sickness, her kiss could have killed you right?))

(I know and I like it, and I can certainly enjoying showing her how to use those charms of her better.)

Kurama laughed at that and replied.

((And you have the gall to call me a pervert… you're turning into a pervert who flirts with with women who try to kill you. I personally find that to be a weird balance between brave and suicidal.))

Naruto laughed at that and moved on while switching back to his Senjutsu mode to scan the area around him and he could not help but smirk in surprise when he felt a very familiar chakra signature, and then three familiar ones.

(Well now, we have company, Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Superman, they no doubt are trying to track us down Kurama.)

((Figures they would be interested, you left the impression after all on them, so, any plans yet?))

(Let them make a first move and we string them along, see how far they are willing to go to try and get us.)

((Don't you mean you? Keep in mind you have not exactly told them about me and the fact that it makes you a Jinchuuriki remember?))

(And I will not unless something convinces me to tell me otherwise, besides, telling them I got a demon fox inside me ain't exactly common knowledge around here yet. Plus they'll either think I am joking or I deserve to be in the loony bin. And no way am I going to let myself get locked up with the nuts that call that place home.)

…

Bruce looked through some special binoculars and spoke to both Tim and Barbara.

"Looks like our Hokage friend as gone away from the sewers."

Tim raised an eyebrow at that and replied.

"What could he have been doing in there?"

Barbara shook her head and replied.

"Don't know, but that's where the thieves were supposed to have been seen going to last time I checked the reports. The fact they were acting like that must man they were being controlled."

"Don't bother with that, I looked through the sewers, the crooks are there and they look poisoned."

Batman decided to check the bodies out later, if what he had seen on the stolen list was accurate, then that meant Poison Ivy was on the move again. As much as he liked nature due to his time traveling and training, he did not like the extremes that Ivy did to protect it. He personally disliked it when she nearly killed his friend Harvey Dent before he turned into Two Face, nor when she nearly turned Alfred into a plant human hybrid.

He then had an idea as he took out one of his tracers and gave it to Superman and spoke.

"How good were you in baseball?"

Superman looked a bit confused for a moment and then nodded in agreement as he was quickly able to grasp just what was it that Bruce had in mind. He pitched his arm up and managed to weigh in how much strength he needed for the distance and how to avoid injuring the man as well as allowing the tracer to latch on to him without becoming a bullet. Not too hard for him to do when one considered the fact that Clark had a very advanced brain and the power to use said brain as well.

He tossed it and soon the trcer sailed through the air, propelled by the Kryptonian's strength and he saw it with his micro-vision as it managed to land on the coat of the Hokage. Just as the man took off and he replied to Bruce.

"Got him."

That was the cue for the rest of them to go after the Hokage as the man was now on the move, perhaps they could finally get the answers they were in need of.

…

Later…

The four of them managed to track down the Hokage to a hotel and as soon as they were there, Bruce nodded that not was the time to go in and find the man. But once they got there, he was out, no doubt going to grab a meal of some sort as it was the right time for dinner. This allowed them to look the place over.

Bruce entered the hotel room that was owned by the Hokage and wondered just what the status was of this masked hero when it came to financing. The apartment might not be high class, but to be able to be here in a well known hotel in good comfort suggested that the guy was well funded and therefore was not to be taken lightly. He was also curious about the way his weapons were made, as the recovered ninja stars were authentic and were not like the kind of things one found in a novelty store.

He was not alone in this search as Robin, Batgirl, and Superman were there withy Clark scanning the place. They all had taken a very strong interest on the man. Clark to find out more of this man who had managed to find out his identity, Barbara was curious on what was the guy's story, and Robin wanted to see if this guy was as good as Bruce without him using those powers of his.

Bruce looked at the room and suspected that the guy was hiding more than just his identity as he looked over the drawers as he did not help but feel that something was going on. It was a feeling in his mind and gut, and if there was one thing his training had taught him, it was to trust at times the feelings in his gut.

That was when they discovered the tracer on the coat of the Hokage, with a note in it. They took the note and read it.

'Hello there…

I figured you would find this hotel room of mine sooner or later Batman, and no doubt that your companions are with you, and I wagered a guess old Big Blue Superman is with you too. You might be wondering how I know Superman is with you right? Let's just say that someone with his more than unique energy signature is pretty darn hard to miss, especially for a guy like me. Couple that with his ability to see through things except lead, you would have found me already, only I knew you were coming so I decided to scram in a very different fashion and leave something and your team might be able to hear people coming a mile away, but I have learned some techniques that trump the training, and no I am not going to tell so don't bother asking.

Anyhow, it was not unexpected you would find me, so I decided to make myself scarce. If there's one thing I learned in my more than interesting life that kept me from being buried in a coffin, is to always have a backup plan. And I recommend you forget trying to find the tailor of my coat just in case you think to find him and question who he made it for, because like that letter I gave Superman, that coat's about to go bye-bye!

See ya!

Hokage!'

That was the only warning that Batman and the others had as the jacket suddenly began to burn and soon was reduced into nothing but a pile of ash, along with the tracer. That was enough to tell Bruce and company that their chance to find him was long dead and gone, and with the room's fire alarm going off from the smoke coming from the ruined jacket, there was going to be too many people in the area for them to get a precise idea where the Hokage had gone. Clark had to shake his head and spoke to the others.

"How the heck did he find out that I was around?"

Bruce shook his head at that and replied.

"I am not very sure on how he did it but it seems that we are going to have to leave before we're found out. Tim, can you come back here and find out just who rented the room?"

"Already on it first thing tomorrow morning, I want to find out just who this guy really is."

Clark had a feeling that it was not going to be that simple as he looked at the now reduced pile of destroyed cloth as they soon got out of the room before hotel security came into the room.

…

Outside…

Naruto grinned a bit as he was a very fair distance away from the hotel that he had left his coat in. It was sad that he had to lose that coat, but that was why he ALWAYS carried spares in his scrolls. He then moved away from the place and was happy that he secretly planned an escape route out of the hotel in advance. After all…that was NOT his real base of operations and he was going to his real base right now.

The blonde Shinobi moved quickly over the buildings and resorted to using his kunai with the wires and soon arrived near an old steel mill that was left behind by the company that once owned it and it was outside of the city limits. This was his real base of operations and he had made it as comfortable as he could and the metal there, while old was useful for making spare weapons. He had been friends with Tenten and she did teach him on how to make his own weapons and gear, so why the company left behind good quality metal was something he was confused with.

And since this place was deemed off limits and no longer of any value, it was going to destroyed in a month from now, more than ample time for him to make the place his base while in Gotham. And when they demolished it, the city government was going to unwittingly erase any trace of him ever being there in the first place.

Their lose and his gain he supposed and as he went in, he decided to make sure that before the last week was over, he was going to make things VERY interesting before he left the city.

…

The rest of next week for Naruto was downright entertaining as he had managed to avoid getting on the radar of Batman and company while tangling against Selina Kyle. The woman was certainly a lot better prepared than last time they met and she was more than willing to go all out to try and evade him when she finally robbed someone. The reason he was able to locate her was namely due to his Senjutsu training and how to sense chakra. After sensing Selina's chakra energy signature and narrowing it down, he now was able to track her but she was not going to make it the least bit easy.

She apparently had been busy getting herself into tip top shape and they were soon moving over the roof tops and there was no doubt in his mind that they had to be careful since Batman might be around. The first day of the between them had her stealing a golden scepter with jewels from a businessman's private collection, and he was able to arrive before anyone arrived on site, and soon the chase was on. The distance to the place where he would not chase her was fairly long so she was going to push it as much as she could.

Naruto and Selina had a heck of a race between them and as they faced one another, the female thief was really giving Naruto a very interesting time as she did what she could to fight him off or evade him. But it was not long before he managed to switch her sachet bag with another one of the same make which turned out to be filled with a cat plush toy this time.

Selina found out about the switch when she checked the bag as he appeared right in front of her while hanging upside down on the roof of the building that she had tried to hide in. The woman knew that as per the agreement between them, she was going to reveal her face. Once she did so, Naruto whistled wolfishly and called her one very attractive woman and he was impressed at how she managed to keep herself this good looking.

He then returned the golden specter to the owner though in this case, the man turned out to have been something of the fencer for some wild cats that was supposed to be off limits. That was more than enough to explain just why Selina targeted the man.

Naruto had some entertainment at the end of it when he spotted none other than Bane who was currently going in to fight Batman and his group though the three had to deal with Bane's goons as the man was currently running a drug running business. The man was certainly large and despite the size, this guy certainly knew how to move and fight, and while Batman seemed to be a bit troubled, he was more than willing to go all out to fight the muscle bound criminal.

He did not interfere yet as he wanted to see just how Batman would do in this kind of the fight. And he was not the least disappointed as Batman finally proved to be as capable as before, despite the fact that at times, Bane tossed him around like a rag doll. Robin and Batgirl were there as well and he could not help but nod in respect at the way the two fought alongside Batman, though his eyes were locked in on Batgirl as he wolf whistled mentally at the way she moved.

He was very interested in using her as a new character in his novel series once he was out of the area before he was going to be found out. But not before seeing the team defeat Bane and allow the man to taken away by the police and no doubt going back to that lovely place Arkham Asylum.

…

On the next day, Naruto decided to get to work writing on his newest novel and he was more than willing to use what he had been doing or rather done so far with both Ivy and Selina. His very much accepted perverted nature already going into overdrive as he wrote the stories that involved Selina and Pamela as well as himself. Though he usually changed the names and also made sure to make some alterations to make things a lot more interesting and avoid arousing the ire of said ladies.

He was very interested to see just how the people were going to react the very second these stories came out into circulation. And once he was done, he was off to finally continue the next phase of his competition with the gorgeous Selina Kyle as night fell. However, along the way he ran into one really oddball but still attractive woman who rode one really weird contraption if he ever saw one and that was saying something since he had seen his fair share of crazy contraptions back home.

The blonde spotted the woman known as Roxy Rocket, a daredevil stunt woman who had WAY too many close calls and was an adrenaline junky to the extreme. The woman had managed to do a daring robbery and was cruising along the streets, scaring the living daylights out of people as he managed to keep out of sight and get dressed. The Gotham PD tried to chase her and stop her rampage but it was also here that Naruto appeared.

Roxy was a bit surprised at the appearance he made, namely since he was currently in his Wind Armor Jutsu but tried to play chicken with him and even gave him a kiss and a dare to catch her. The blonde was not in the mood to play catch the woman so he decided to put an end to this chase. He quickly fired a pair of shuriken into the engine and that slowed Roxy down, allowing him to get ahead of her and then intercept her with a quick midair grab as he then moved to fire one of his wire armed Kunai and then swing over to the nearby sign.

He placed her down and then spoke to her about trying to get herself turned into a proverbial smear on the wall, which was the fate of her little ride as it was now burning on the wall. The woman however didn't seem to mind and even tried to come on to him, apparently she got a rush facing him in aerial fighting and was even asking him if he had a girlfriend. Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or snort, sure Roxy was interesting and certainly a sight, but she was a bit odd in his mind. And that was saying something since Naruto had a very long history of meeting people who were beyond borderline crazy. He decided to partially lie and say that he was seeing someone, to which Roxy asked if his girlfriend was as wild and interesting as she was. To which he replied she was, that did not make Roxy change her tune however as she replied that she was going to prove that she was a lot wilder.

Naruto snorted a bit and despite Roxy being charming, which was not too hard to do with the way she dressed, he finally managed to restrain her and leave, just as the cops came in. The woman reminded a bit too much of Anko who actually flirted with him a number of times, even though he was technically married. Though unlike Roxy, Anko knew when not to push her luck and merely enjoyed the company. He also evaded the police and soon was out of sight. As night fell, Naruto managed to move out and evade the police patrols and soon used his Senjutsu training.

He soon found Selina and soon found her, stealing a golden cat mask from the Gotham Museum and off she went, forcing him to follow. This time however, he was not alone in the pursuit though it was the GPD and soon he and the police were closing in on Selina. The cops had a hard time in keeping up with Selina as he watched from the side lines, but the blonde thief then managed to enter a series of abandoned apartments and soon the police were forced to search the place building by building. That was more than good for Naruto as he was in Senjutsu mode and tracking Selina.

The two of them met and this time, instead of fighting him, Selina tried to take the seduction route and boy was she unleashing the charm this time around. The two chased one another and despite the decrepit conditions of the apartments, they were doing all right. At one point, the blonde thief actually decided to kiss him a bit while rubbing her body on his body, more than enough to get him interested. She even ran his hands on his thighs, a first on his part.

She even tried to place his hands on her breasts of all things, and he was not going to complain as Selina was really hamming it up. Not to mention that she was even willing to use her tongue on him on a few instances as she also tried to get away from him when she could while evading the police. That was more than enough to tell Naruto that she was really willing to do what she could in order to get away from him.

He was not far behind in the seduction game as he was more than willing to give as good as he got. When she thought she had evaded him, he would appear and whisper into her ear from behind while gently smacking her well shaped butt at the same time. That action he did made her cry out a bit at his willingness to do that and briefly glare at him before trying to reverse the whole thing. She would even try to use her whip at him, but he merely gave her smiles and playful cat calls, he even managed to catch her whip and then pull her to him and he would catch her and shamelessly rub his face on her bust. That was more than enough to make Selina gasp at his actions as this was something she had not expected. He even placed his thigh between her legs, making her raise an eyebrow at him for his actions.

This went on for a while until Selina escaped after managing to tie him up and left, unaware of the fact that Naruto had managed to get into her sachet halfway through their little romp through the apartments and place in a simple but very cute cat themed mask which he had managed to buy from before. As she left, he freed himself and finally surprised Selina in the Pier by revealing the switch and she groaned a bit as she knew what that meant.

…

The next day, they were on their date and it was rather interesting as Naruto decided to dress nice for the occasion. After all, this was a date and he had to look his best for his date, he did that with his wives when he went with them on either single dates or in group dates. The only difference he made was to make his hair move down and not be spiky. He dressed in a simple but very classy dress suit and Selina appeared wearing a white dress with simple but elegant high heeled shoes and had a purse as well. He managed to get them into one of the more popular restaurants in Gotham and soon it was a date which was rather nice.

Selina actually stated that despite his change in hair style, he was not bad looking and while she asked him if he was sure that he could tolerate being seen with her since he was technically a teenager and she was older than him, he laughed a bit. He then replied that considering the modern world's view of things, there was nothing too wrong about this sort of thing and despite his young look, he was a lot older than she realized. That comment naturally made Selina raise her eyebrow at the comment but decided to let the whole thing.

The two of them began to enjoy the day and despite the fact that there were some comments directed at him by the men in sight and hearing range, and the same to Selina it was not all bad. The woman managed to tell him about the events that led to her fascination with cats and her love for all kinds, either domesticated or wild. Naruto decided to also trade a bit of his own history, namely how he actually enjoyed gardening and also working with some animals.

He even mentioned that incident with the cat that belonged to the Feudal Lord's wife and how the thing had given him and his friends a hell of a chase. Selina could not help but picture the sight of that and be slightly amused, but that amusement only grew when Naruto explained just how wily the cat was and how it had tried countless times to turn his face into confetti and also make him go way off the mark. The blonde Shinobi also spoke about the tiger he and Hikaru eventually called friend and traveled with as well as his encounters with other creatures.

Naruto then mentioned that despite things he actually had an affinity to toads and foxes, making Selina amused considering the fact he had used a frog puppet to fool her the first time they had met one another. Naruto did not reveal anything else about himself but merely used a cover name, going by the name of Nathan Stein, who had stayed in Japan for a number of years and recently returned to America to get used to seeing the world after being in Japan for so long. To prove it he even used his real language which was certainly Japanese to the ear of most people, something that Selina nodded to. This went on for a while as Selina explained that while she knew that being caught was always a danger as a thief, she lived for the thrill it gave her and she relished the chance to show her abilities as well as gain gold things to enhance her lifestyle.

But she also pointed out that she took care to avoid engaging the police and law enforcement, as well as avoiding harming people unless she had no other choice. And even if she did get forced into a situation where violence was her only chance, she would not make a mistake and kill someone even if it was accidental. That was because she disliked killing unless there was no other alternative, and the fact was that if she killed someone, I would only make things worse for her. And she used the money to obviously fund charitable causes and to help the animals she grew fond of.

As dinner came, both of them enjoyed the meal and before they parted at the end of the night, Naruto told her that he was looking forward to the last day and she nodded as she did find him charming, but not that charming, to which Naruto took no offense and soon they were off to their respective hideouts.

…

As night fell, the chase was on between them though this time around, Selina took to robbing what was a priceless painting from a collection piece. Naruto had to admit that the choice of target was new until he learned that not only was the painting valuable, but it had the images of Bast and Sekhmet on them, two Egyptian Goddesses with cat heads on human bodies. That was enough to make Kurama comment that this Selina woman took her love of felines a LITTLE too far, to which Naruto had to agree as they were now moving after Selina. And this time, the blonde female thief was going all out on trying to lose him.

They were moving from the vault where she stole the painting and into the social district of Gotham, no doubt she was trying to use the place to lure him off her trail. If she could not evade him, fight him, or seduce him, then she was going to distract him in a very different fashion. The sights and sounds were certainly a step up from what he was used to and he had to be careful since he had to avoid being seen as well. He had to give Selina credit for the deception and this time around, he was going to have to be careful since it turned out that the woman had decided to cover herself with some form of scent masking on her outfit.

She really went all out and he could guess that the idea of dressing up for him for picture taking was not something she had in mind. But he was not going to give up any time soon as he pursued Selina, relying on his Senjutsu to track her down, but it was here that a number of thugs decided to attack one of the nearby theaters and that was enough to force Naruto to stop and go in to find out what was going on. Apparently a number of the wealthy Gotham class were watching a brand new show and the thugs intended to rob them.

This was enough to make him stop and get into the act as the people were being forced to give up their money, jewels, credit cards and the like (though why would the people carry those he would never know). The thugs were also interested in holding the performer prisoner, a drop dead gorgeous raven haired woman in some seriously attractive female stockings and a rather interesting looking suit. He saw that the name of the performer was Zatanna and when he directed his Senjutsu senses he was surprised to find that she had a bonfire of chakra in her as well as a level of energy that he did not recognize well enough. This woman had some serious powers and apparently was not using them yet and some of the thugs were interested in her, but instead of cowering, the woman fought back like a cornered tigress.

This was enough to make Naruto step in as he quickly tossed one of his special kunai to appear into the front of the thugs and Zatanna as he launched himself at them with serious attacks on them all. That surprised the people in the audience as they had thought Batman and his team were there, Naruto could see that none of the thugs were that skilled and he wiped the floor with them quickly enough. But one of them managed to get up and grab the magician from behind.

He placed a knife on her throat and that made Naruto all the more annoyed as he knew that this was not good, and the police would not arrive in time, plus Selina was getting away. But he was surprised this time around as Zatanna used her wand and aimed up upward to create a powerful blast of powder in the face that was precise. The man began to scream in pain and clutch his nose and eyes as Zatanna then gave the guy a solid kick to the balls, making Naruto raise an eyebrow, enough to distract him as another thug got up despite the beating to clobber him with a chair.

Zatanna turned waved her wand a bit, making Naruto realize that the energy he sensed was active and he turned to see the man being tied up by ropes. Where those ropes came from he had no idea, but he was impressed. He turned to Zatanna and asked her if she was fine and the magic user replied.

"I am all right, you're the Hokage aren't you?"

"Saw me on TV Miss Zatanna?"

"Yep, got to say that the change in wardrobe is nice, anyway, thanks for your help here, didn't think anyone was this crazy to attack."

"Money can make you do strange things, anyway, got to go, hope to meet you again Miss Zatanna, and nice kick by the way."

The raven haired magician smirked and replied.

"Just because I look like this doesn't mean I am helpless, had previous experience creeps like them. And I hope to meet you again too, you've got some serious powers."

And afterwards, Naruto went on with the chase, and despite the distance between him and Selina, he managed to catch her with the Hirashin No Jutsu, his kunai wire, and chakra chain movements plus his speed. The two carried on with their race until they were in sight of the pier that was the safe haven, but Naruto was quickly able to react Selina and suddenly reach the special container she used to hide the painting in. The two managed to duke it out in a fight but Naruto still managed to hold on even with Selina using not just her claws but her whip as well.

Naruto quickly took a few smoke bombs and in a complete reversal of last time, he blinded her and moved in quickly through the smoke and made his move. Just as Selina got away from the smoke and soon they were facing each other, they fought once more and soon it came to a point that they both fell off the building and Naruto used his chakra chain to latch on the building and catch Catwoman as they looked at one another. The thief smiled at the rescue as he moved to the other building and soon they were only a few steps away from the pier. Selina opened the container and rolled it open to find that she got only a blank sheet and she looked at Naruto to reveal that he had the painting, meaning that he won.

Selina sighed at this and knew that the jig was up and looked at Naruto who smiled warmly underneath his mask.

…

Two days later at night…

Naruto was very happy with himself as he was now taking a train away from Gotham and heading out of the city. He decided to head back to Los Angeles and stay there for a while until he was done with what he needed to do for his books. In his bag were a number of pictures that had Selina Kyle as the model. The blonde woman was not too keen on it at first but after some time, she agreed to it and she wore a number of clothes and dresses that she had on hand that he found very nice. The party dress look, the simple business like look, and a few others, all none threatening, but very attractive in Naruto's eye. But the highlights of the pictures included Selina wearing what was a two piece swim suit which was deep black with gold hoops and also a simple one piece suit that had oval shapes to reveal her stomach and back and managed to hold her bust.

All of which were done alongside Isis in her apartment and truth be told, Selina was quite surprised that her pet cat, a very discerning judge of character actually liked Naruto. The blonde was also pleased that unlike the last cat he had to deal with, Isis did not try to turn his face to confetti, and that seemed to confirm to Selina that she could trust Naruto well enough. The whole thing took at least a few hours, all the way to lunch, for which he personally bought with his own money and even bought Isis a few treats of fish, making Selina smirk a bit at his attitude and the fact that he was a very nice guy, even though it was fairly obvious that he was no saint since she did catch him looking at her in a less than pure fashion.

Still, once it was over, he made sure to keep his word and for the last three days, he left her to her own devices if she ever decided to take back being Catwoman. Which was a good thing in his mind and he made sure to not bother her again.

It was not just Selina though, apparently Ivy had taken a shot at his offer and he had indeed helped her on a few things to get the factory closed down and the owners swimming in so many legal problems and being protested that they decided to close down the factory. That also meant that Ivy could now take over and clean up the mess covertly. She was not too sold on the idea just yet and he expected that to be the case, but that hardly meant that he and by extension Pamela did not get to try things out.

And sure enough, he enjoyed teasing and flirting with Pamela who reacted naturally enough, despite the fact that she was still unsure how to react to being with a man who was someone who could not be poisoned by her. He took things slowly and began to really heat things up between them a bit so she was used to it, and despite her instance that this was not going to change her ways like that, her moaning and groaning was telling him that he was on the right path to something with her.

It was not too long though and despite her denials at times, he could tell that Pamela had enjoyed herself. That was why he made sure to tell her that he had decided to be on call for her if she ever needed someone to talk to as well as keep her company. It made the whole thing a lot more interesting since one had to know the fact that he was the only man thus far who was not harmed by her in any stretch of the imagination. She replied that she would keep that in mind, but she warned him not to get any ideas.

He also ran into Zatanna as she was getting her stuff loaded into her truck for another trip around the country, though in this case that was last night when he was able to find her. Someone with as much chakra as she did mixed with that other energy was not too hard to miss and after some time chatting in his disguise, she decided to let him take some pictures of her which she then signed with her in her costume, which to him was more than enough.

The ONLY problem he had before he packed up was meeting that massive figure of a zombie Solomon Grundy. The creature came barreling into a nearby train station that apparently had a shipment of gold being taken in. And on the same night as well as his meeting with Zatanna so off he went to deal with the new foe that ruined this night of his. However once he saw the being thrash through the guards and attack them and sensed that he was dead already, it brought back memories of his encounters with ghosts and undead, namely of Hidan and Kakazu, the Immortal pair of Akatsuki. He disliked them immensely since they had killed Asuma and left Kurenai a widow and their son fatherless and while it was something to expect given their lives as Konoha ninja, it hardly meant that they liked it, he personally fought Kakazu while Shikamaru personally defeated Hidan and sealed that bastard away.

Solomon Grundy was not in the same league as those two, namely in the brains and Justu department, but he was tough. He managed to stop him from harming any more guards but had to resort to Senjutsu to deal with this guy since the magical energy that kept him alive seemed to be affected by it. Naruto was not too sure what was it that brought this dude back to life but he could tell that it was not the same as Kabuto and Orochimaru's Impure World Resurrection Jutsu so he was going to have to go all out.

He and Grundy tore through the train station and while the zombie got some hard hits in, the durability he got from his Senjutsu form helped him even the odds as he landed blow after blow as well on the former living man. Grundy was less than pleased and tried to squash him more than once and used anything he could to swat him, which was why Naruto used his Frog Kumite Style to knock him around even more until he reverted to something a lot more effective.

He summoned the chakra he needed and despite it not being his chakra affinity, this worked well enough on the undead as far as he had seen.

"KATON! GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

The massive fireball slammed into Grundy and sent him screaming in absolute pain as Naruto quickly followed that up with a Rasengan attack that sent the massive zombie flying into a collection of fuel drums and that was soon followed by a massive fireball of an explosion as the fuel went boom. As soon as that was over, off he went to go back to L.A but not before sending his newest novel to his employer and this had the theme of the hero dealing with a woman with one serious green thumb, and a lady with a deep connection to cats though he made sure to make some changes just to be on the safe side.

…

As for Batman and company, they were still surprised at the news of Naruto's activities and wondered just how he had been able to avoid them for so long. But what really got the interest of the group were the reports of him fighting Grundy and unleashing a fireball from his mouth according to witnesses who were not caught in the crossfire of the battle. Bruce knew that it took a lot of force to beat Grundy and fire alone, while harmful was not enough to kill the reanimated being. And that was enough to tell him that Grundy was not going to forget the Hokage or what he had done to him. Robin was not too happy as it turned out the room was not even being rented by anyone and that meant he was led by the nose, and that grated on the young crime fighter more than he cared to admit.

There was also the report that some of the homeless people had said that Ivy was seen in the Hokage's company and she seemed to be…rather calm and seemed to be at ease with the man. That was something he had not expected and only served to confuse him even more as he knew how she could easily kill with a kiss so how the Hokage was alive around her added to the whole mess.

As for Clark, the guy's ability to sense him before he could even see him confused the Kryptonian since as far as he knew, he did not emit any energy waves that could be seen easily. This added more to the whole deal and he knew that Bruce was not all too keen on things, the Hokage had now disappeared as the last they had heard of him was that battle with Grundy and as he gathered the reports for the Daily Planet, there was no doubts in his mind that sooner or later, things were going to come to a head.

…

They were not the only ones to take notice however.

…

On an island far away from the modern world…

"Are you sure that you have been sensing those changes Mala?"

"Yes my Queen every now and then, I sensed a shifting of the world's natural flow of energy, as if it was being taken to a central point and then as soon as a large amount was taken, it stopped. It was as if someone or something is actually able to tap into the very flow of energy and redirect it. But it did not feel like the energy was being violated."

"How so?"

"Almost as if the person or persons who did it was not fighting or bringing nature under his or their wills, but allowing it to flow into them and settle. That kind of skill is unlike what I have sensed before, but I have heard stories of people with magic being able to do such feats."

"I see…"

"Mother, can it really be coming from Man's world?"

"I do not know, but as long as it is not being done here, we have little to fear. What happens out there is not our concern daughter. We have no need to be concerned with the affairs of men."

"I…all right mother, but I cannot help but be curious."

"You were always the curious one my little Sun and Stars, but place that aside for now, you sister is waiting for you in the training hall."

"Yes mother!"

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Okay, yet another chapter finished and now Naruto is heading back to L.A for now to get back into the groove of things in his new home turf as it were. Once I am on that page, I am going to now focus on having Naruto meet up with the others who will make the League.

I know that this might seem a bit short, but I have a lot of things to do and I am a bit rushed as I move on to the other Non-Halo stories that I have to update as well as handle some real life matters that have to be done now than later. I also have to be focusing on getting a rest break since I have been getting sick for some reason or another.

Might have something to do with the darn weather as far as I can guess, but it might also do with the fact that I don't get a lot of decent sleep these days plus the food.

Anyway, on the origins chapters, you can bet that when Naruto arrives, things are about to get interesting and I can assure you that when Naruto gets an eye full of both Shaeyra and Diana, he is REALLY going to have some ideas. Once that's over and done with, Naruto will be meeting some other people as well namely of the female persuasion.

He's already met some of the bad girls, namely Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Roxy Rocket, and Zatanna so now it's time to ramp things up as he will continue his little tour of the DC world. Just who will he be running into the rest of the world?

…

Also if the flirting bits were not up to the standard, I apologize for that, since it's been hectic back here. Financial concerns, health issues, everyday needs, you all know what I mean by that sort of thing. It also makes it kind of sad that I don't have a lot of experience flirting with a girl yet, so I have to make due with what I do know. The parts with Ivy and Catwoman were hard by the way for me since the scenes took a lot of my time and I can only hope that they all meet the standard for good flirting scenes.

Will the effects of this change Pamela and Selina? Not too sure yet but no sense not having fun getting there right?

If you have constructive suggestions then I am all ears, but if you decide to flame me, then I am going to ignore it all since I dislike flames that are sent to just annoy me.

And if you are curious if I will make lemons for this story considering what I have in mind, then the answer is yes.

…

I also managed to read up on the latest manga so I now know just what sort of power Itachi gave Naruto and I liked it. I do plan to change the canon a bit to let Naruto keep the crow with Shisui's eye since I have already cooked up a plan where it comes to play. And the newest abilities Naruto has as well as his new alliance with Kurama is going to be seen in action in the chapters to come.

I can bet that as soon as Naruto reveals those powers, a LOT of people in the story are all going to sit up and take notice once Naruto decides to go all out. But the only time those powers will be seen is if the enemies are going to be a real threat to Naruto and the rest of the League. Also before I get questioned about a topic on if Naruto will kill anyone, then let me answer that question right now.

"Yes, he will kill some of the bad guys in the DC world, but who is entirely up to me and when is also entirely up to me. So I hope that this will convince the readers not to think that Naruto is going to be always taking his foes down without lethal methods being considered.

…

Anyhow, in light of my plans to work on my non Halo stories, I will be moving next to the Naruto Deserted Island series and I will be very busy there since it is going to finally hit the end. Afterwards, I am going to work on VanDread the Fox, my Naruto Avatar story, possibly my, and also my two Fallout stories. After that, I will be working on the rest and when I am done to my satisfaction with them, I will move back to my Halo stories.

Also I plan to toss in the idea of trying a crossover of Familiar of Zero with Naruto, though in two variants and also a Familiar of Zero crossover that deals with a game, and that game is Hellgate: London with Saito being a Templar. Plus I am experimenting with other ideas to boot and see how far that all will go in the long run.

See you all soon in the next chapter when it comes out!


	5. Chapter 5

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or DC, so don't even send the legal eagles my way.

Chapter 4

Part 1

Origins…

( ): Thoughts

(( )): Kurama

…

Back in L.A…

Naruto was usually not the one for nightmares but he had been getting some of them lately and he did not like them one bit. The nightmares included dealing with some weird looking beings that looked like those demons that he had dealt with in the past alongside Shion, and his father Minato way back in the past. But they seemed to be attacking some other race…all of whom looked non human to him. And there was a voice there somewhere, speaking in Japanese to him yet having an accent that he could not place to what he had been able to learn while in this city.

As the blonde Shinobi looked at the coming dawn, he decided to go out on a routine patrol run in his regular garb and as he got out, he decided to check the news and saw Superman once more. The blonde smirked a bit and went to eating something from the supplies he had been able to buy with the money that he was getting from his editor. He was pleased that his story was beginning to get off the prototyping bit and was soon going to be seen in action and he was hoping that would do all right.

The story of his life was very much the same as his previous experiences, the only key difference was that he altered his appearance to resemble the image he had of himself with his mother Kushina's hair and had it at the same style as his father with blonde highlights at the tips. An odd image to be sure, but was not all that bad, and the editor thought the same since the image added some uniqueness to the character. The only thing he did not change was his name since he never used his real name that much out in public anyway so he doubted that anyone made the connection just yet.

He also made sure to be faithful to the story of his life and used all the events, even the ones he preferred personally to remain buried. They were painful memories, but they all made him into who he was right now and denying them was a bad move on his part. As he got his food ready which was ramen which he had bought in a shop before and sat down to eat, he listened to the news of Superman and then heard some people who were not too keen on him, speaking about the time he was used by that alien warlord to invade Earth.

Naruto sighed a bit and merely listened as he began to chow down on the ramen that he had. He thought about his reason of not spilling the beans as it was said on Superman's identity and knew that it was the right one. The fact was that Superman reminded him of what he was like when he was struggling to prove that he was not Kurama, the demon fox who destroyed Konoha and killed so many people when it was freed from his mother by that bastard Tobi. It was never an easy thing since so many people were killed, including the parents of his father figure Iruka, and while his father figure never hated him, others were not as open minded as he was. Apart from Iruka, it was only a handful of ninja and people who saw him as a human being and a soon to be hero of Konoha, while the rest did not. It was only after so many trials and his defeat of Nagato, and his defeat of Madara, Tobi, and Sasuke did he prove that he was the hero his parents and loved ones saw him to be.

In Superman's case, it was different in the sense that he had been seen as a hero first before being brain washed by that alien warlord who's name still was hard to pronounce. And because of his actions under that being's influence so many lives were lost and now he had to prove to the world that they could trust him again. No doubt he had some supporters, with the staff of the Daily Planet being one of said supporters, and also that dark haired woman Lois who he had to admit was quite the eye catcher. But as Naruto had experienced, it was not an easy road and there would be times that he would be tempted to take a different path, but staying true to one's morals, beliefs, faith, and principles was the ultimate test when everyone else thought you were evil all along and not to be trusted.

After all, he knew what that was like, he could easily become like what his friend Gaara had been when the now deceased Kazekage had been filled with such hatred and loathing of the world and all around it. He could have easily allowed Kurama to possess him and make all of Konoha suffer for what they had put him through when he and Kurama were still enemies. He could have easily given into hatred and despair as well, becoming the very monster so many in Konoha long ago despised. And he could very well have become like Nagato when his clansman had suffered so many losses and had been further corrupted and manipulated by Tobi in the past. It would have been so easy for him, but he did not. He firmly believed in the Will of Fire and his desire to prove that he was someone who was very much a member of Konoha. And he did it, he won and proved that no matter how dark things were, as long as one held true and kept his or her faith strong, and never shut out those who cared for them, they could win no matter the odds.

This was the reason he was going to keep Superman's secret since he had no doubt that he and Superman were the same in the sense of their desire to prove to others that they were not the bad guys, as it were. He however had no doubt that he would be questioned by either the man himself or by that blonde cousin of his at some point should she try and find out more about him. Trying to protect her cousin's identity was understandable to him as well, after all Hiruzen did the same thing by using his mother's clan name to hide his relationship with his father after both his parents died saving him from Kurama's last attack to slay him.

His father Minato made many enemies and if they learned of his existence, they would have never stopped hounding him to attack his father, even more so since Minato was now dead since killing him would ensure that nothing would be left of his father's legacy. And only a select few in Konoha and even fewer if none at all now outside of Konoha knew of his mother Kushina's power as well as her clan lineage which was why no one suspected a thing, with the marked exception of the Kumo Ninja who tried to kidnap her when she was still young. And couple the unique chakra type of his mother along with her clan's unique vitality and life force, he would have been quite the tempting target in those days.

Thankfully no one was the wiser of his unique bloodlines as the Uzumaki Clan were skilled in sealing Jutsu, he did not doubt that even after the fall of their home, they were very efficient in destroying the records to prevent being hunted and it was only through luck or through extensive hard work that anyone found anything related to his mother's clan. let alone find any of his possible clansmen who might still be alive in the world.

He placed the thoughts aside for now as he focused on his breakfast and once that was polished off with a glass of milk, he went to his mission. He wore his original garb but this time had his Chuunin vest on and both swords on his back for easy reach. He had no doubt that sooner or later, there was going to be some answers to his nightmares. The question in his mind was naturally if he was going to like the answers.

…

Later…

Naruto was moving about the city while keeping himself out of the sights of the people for now since there was not much for him to work with. The cops were doing a good job and he would only get involved if it became too dangerous or they were not able to make it in time. He had to make sure to that he also kept his Senjutsu senses on. Naturally he had to leave some of his Kage Bunshin in certain parts of the city in order to gather the nature chakra to keep his Senjutsu mode fully powered. He had gotten so used to this form for years that he did this as a natural precaution and it certainly helped him in this city.

As he moved through the place unhindered with the aid of his wired kunai and his chakra chains, he was quick to sense something, or rather someone was in the area. And from what he could sense, the person in question was not human. He stopped from his movements on a roof to focus his Senjutsu sensed and looked in the direction where the signal was coming from. And he was quick to sense just who it was that was coming his way.

It was a signature that he had sensed before in Metropolis, and it was not Superman, but Supergirl, and he had a very good idea as to why she was here L.A and not at Metropolis with her cousin. He waited a bit more until he sensed her speed up, no doubt she finally saw him and was heading his way. He turned and spotted one of those helicopters that he had read about and decided to get out of the area to avoid having the media follow him.

He had no doubt that Supergirl was going to be following him so he headed off to the highest building there and hope no one he had no ties to decided to follow him and Supergirl. He quickly moved fired out one of his wired kunai and soon moved out, reinforcing the kunai wire with his chakra to reinforce it.

…

He was not wrong in his assumptions as he was now being followed by the blonde super heroine and soon they reached his target

Naruto managed to land on the roof, quickly used a Genjutsu as Supergirl was within the area behind the Genjutsu and he released it.

The Genjutsu was not one of his best but it would do as it made the area outside of the said Genjutsu appear all the same to anyone looking at it from the Outside. As soon as he did so, he relaxed himself and turned just as Kara landed in front of him, she looked at him seriously and he could tell that the blonde heroine was not in the best of moods.

He decided to come out a bit more serious than before as being a smart ass was a course of action had gotten him into more trouble that cared to have, even more so since she no doubt had the strength to equal Tsunade and Sakura. He decided to get things rolling as it were as he spoke to Kara.

"All right Supergirl, what's the reason you came all the way here to L.A to find me?"

Kara crossed her arms and replied.

"It's pretty simple, how did you know about my cousin's other identity?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and replied a bit to that, thankful that he still had is mask on.

"It was not some simple event mind you, I just got lucky and curious."

That did not sit too well with the young alien woman as she replied.

"You got lucky AND curious? Look here, I want you to stop playing games with me, how did you know and what do you plan to do about it?"

Naruto could not blame Supergirl from not being convinced and he replied.

"I plan to do nothing, I gave my word that I will not reveal his identity to him and I did for the past many weeks. If I did not want to keep my word, I would have revealed it long ago, so I don't really see why you should worry about anything right now."

Kara was not all that relaxed, but she did admit that he had a point, he had ample time ever since Metropolis to reveal to the world that Clark Kent was Superman, but he had not done so at all. She did not like it and went there to find him and figure out just what he did to figure out Clark's secret.

"I have a right to worry. My cousin's already…"

"I know about that whole Darksied incident Supergirl since despite the fact I look like a teenager, I DO read the newspapers. I know that he does what he can to earn the trust of the people once more, to prove that he is not the enemy even though a lot of people think that he cannot be trusted. And I respect that, since in a way, I went through the same thing he is now."

"What does that mean?"

Kara looked at Naruto who was still wearing his mask even though she could see right through it. She was not as experienced as her cousin was but there was a part of her stating that he might not be lying to her. But she was not going to just let it lie, how could he say that he went through the same thing that Clark did. Unless…

"Are you an alien like me and my cousin?"

Naruto shook his head at that.

"Nope, I am a human, but not your, average human."

"So you're a meta-human then?"

"You…could say that, and the abilities you saw me use from before are indeed part of me and what I have been training with for a while. But I am already being honest with you Supergirl, I have no intention to reveal your cousin's true identity, nor do I plan to profit from it as well. Besides, any evidence I had before, I already destroyed before I even spoke to your cousin when we met. And like I said I went through something similar to your cousin's struggles so I know what it's like to try and win trust from others as well as prove that you are not the enemy even when everyone sees you as an enemy…or worse."

Naruto then turned to look at the city and sighed a bit as he carried on.

"Suffice to say that it's not the same in every respect to what he is going through right now, but the situation and struggle is the same. That's why I have no plans to reveal what I know about him, after all, being a ninja is to keep secrets, even though when I was younger, I was no too good with secrets myself. And besides, if I did reveal the secret, there's no doubt in my mind that everyone who has an axe to grind will come after him and endanger people precious to him, right?"

He saw Kara tense just a tiny bit, but that was enough to convince Naruto had he had hit a nerve. That meant that Clark did have important people in his life, Lois naturally being one of them so if his dual identity came out, every criminal he had ever royally pissed off would be gunning for her to get to him.

He then turned to Supergirl and then took off his mask, revealing his face to her and he spoke.

"To prove that I am serious, I will tell you my name so now I want to see if you can keep a secret, that secret is naturally mine."

Kara was silent at this and nodded a bit.

Naruto decided to tell her some things about himself, but not too much since he was not going to reveal everything just like that.

"My name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, I know it's a long name by your world's standard, but it's mine and I am proud of it, it has a lot of meaning to me so I carry it with pride. And while I might be speaking to you in English, suffice to say that it's not my original language."

"Really? So what's your natural language?"

"The one you might know as Japanese."

Kara looked at him and was a bit confused, by all rights this Naruto guy looked like an American unless he grew up in Japan and just arrived in the US to settle down.

"You're an American who grew up in Japan then?"

"Not exactly, I'm not from Japan or anywhere else for that matter, I am from another dimension, I got sent here in this world in a very unexpected fashion from where I actually came from."

Now if she was a normal person who grew up in a normal life style and family, Kara Kent would have called Naruto nuts and suggested he go to a doctor to see if he was not suffering from either getting hit on the head, or taking too much of something. Or he was delusional and was trying t fool himself and her with a warped sense of reality. But she was not a regular teenager, and she was not a normal human girl, she was from another planet far away from Earth and had powers no normal person would have. That was why Kara did not freak out too much as she nodded to him to say that she was following him so far.

"Where I come from, we don't have the level of tech that this world has nor do we happen to have people from other worlds like you and your cousin. I know this because I was able to sense his chakra when I met him and I also sensed yours when you came here to look for me."

"Chakra? That sounds like one of those ancient beliefs that exist here."

"To you it's just words on paper and beliefs from others, but where I come from, Chakra is very real and it serves as the foundation of all the techniques I use. You see, in our world chakra is present in everyone and those who undergo the training can do very surprising things such as walk on water, climb walls or trees, unleash attacks that are elemental in nature, enhance their speed and strength, and so on. I'm naturally one of them and I am a ninja, in fact most of the users of chakra are either those who have very unique roles in society, serve in the military or are ninja, both those aligned with a village as it were, or mercenaries."

"So that means you've been trained as an assassin?"

"Yeah, and I have killed before, but the ones I personally killed were powerful criminal ninja, one of them actually started a war that claimed a lot of lives, he was even the one who played a part in my parents' deaths."

That got Kara's attention quickly as she saw the look that Naruto gave out at the mention of it, the expression was rather solemn and despite her youth, Kara did get some lessons from Barbara on how to tell if someone was telling the truth or pulling her by the nose with a lie. Naruto was not lying to her and she replied to that.

"I see…sorry about that, you have my sympathies."

"Thanks, but I managed to mend fences about it, and let's just say yhat my parents…had found a way to speak to me one last time. I'm not all that sure with how they did it, but I was happy to have seen them one last time. As to how I got here, I was on a…mission that was to save my home from an attack. I and those who accompanied me managed to foil it, but I got…caught in the whole event. I should have died actually, but I came here and so I decided to try and get used to this place and try to fit in."

"So you're doing this hero thing for what reason?"

"To help people obviously, unlike what you hear about ninja, not all of them are mercenaries and killers for hire. At least in my world and some exceptions here in this one as well, and you could say that the only time we ever kill a person or a group of people where I was from is when it was needed or unavoidable. I don't mess around with the cops though, if they are there and can deal with it, I'll only help out and not try to act like I am doing a better job than them. They risk their lives everyday from what I have seen thus far. Sure they do have their share of corrupt nuts, but they are not all bad and I respect that a lot."

"Besides, I have the ability to do these things so I will use them for a good cause, I mean considering the things I can do, I could easily have been a thief or more, but I guess being a hero is something that I want to be, and the fact that my parents always believed that I was born to be a hero where I really came from adds to that. I did become a hero in my world and so it's part of my nature to do the same here."

"Anyway, I was on a mission with a few other ninja, high ranking ones to stop a band of rogues who were planning to launch an attack on our home. We managed to stop them but they unleashed the weapon they were hiding and aimed it at the village, I managed to stop it and by all rights the technique I used saved it but it would kill me as well. But I came here, alive obviously and with all my parts in working order."

It took a while before Kara decided that she learned enough to be more relaxed. She had a feeling that he hid some things from her when they were talking to one another, but she had a feeling that it was for a reason. And from what she learned, it was a very good reason and to add to that, Naruto seemed to be very tight lipped about it and he was showing the aura of the kind of person who did not react well to being forced to say something he did not want to say. She could have tried the more physical approach of getting the answers she needed. But decided against it, not only because Clark would not have approved, but because the guy had an aura of being…well, warm and safe to be around. A weird feeling but not in a bad way and as such, fighting him was not a good idea, besides, the fact that he had told her something himself willingly showed to her that he was doing his best to give a good impression.

It kind of reminded her of the time Clark had revealed his story to Lois way before she ever came to the picture, though Naruto apparently preferred to keep secrets. And if she recalled what ninjas did, then it was something to be expected of them, further cementing the facts to her that there might be some truth to his words.

As soon as it was over, she decided to sum it up.

"So let me see if I get this right, you're a ninja from another dimension who had no idea how you got here in ours since you should have actually died from whatever mission you were in. You have these abilities because of your chakra and you are using them here to help people?"

"That pretty much sums it up, and yes, I know that I am possibly holding some things back, but I have my reasons."

"Hm, well let's hope those reasons don't come back and haunt not just you but all of us as well. Now I am going to go back to Metropolis, but bet on the fact that if I hear anything that might put my cousin in danger and those we care about, I am coming back for you."

Naruto then decided to have a little fun and replied.

"Sure, I'll make sure to dress nice for it too."

Kara gave a slight smirk and soon left, making Naruto relax a bit more as he decided to put off the Genjutsu and head off to do the routine patrol thing once more. This time with his mask on and him swinging on the chakra chains that he used on occasion. This was also the time that Kurama decided to get involved with the results of his conversation with Supergirl.

(("You know Naruto, it seems to me that we are going to be under observation soon by that girl."))

(She's welcome to it any time, though I have been curious abut those dreams I have been having.)

(("That huh? Well I can say this much, those dreams were not yours in the slightest, someone sent them into your head and mine."))

That got Naruto's attention as he moved to the roof of another building, ran over the same roof, and then leaped off to fly down and fire another chakra chain that looped around a nearby flagpole and allowed him to swing over to the next building.

(Are you telling me that someone tried to send me dreams? Literally tried to hijack my dreams? That sounds weird Kurama, even for you.)

(("Ever had moments that seemed off at times in your life? Just like the time that glass of yours cracked a bit to tell you that Hinata-san was going to give birth to your first born daughter and you were on the other side of the village? Well, if there's one thing that can tell you, what sounds bogus to you might have some truth in it. Remember, we're in a world with super powered beings, AND we just had a chat with a being that LOOKED like a human but has powers that many could only dream of happening. And let's not forget you and me either."))

(Okay, point taken, so you're saying that someone is sending us a message in dream form?)

(("Yeah, still out on who or what is sending them, but after what I had managed to decipher with what that force sent unexpectedly into my head along with your own, I think I can guess what it might be, mind you, this is merely a guess, not a full blown certainty."))

(That being what?)

(("A warning Naruto, if you recall what you can of your dreams, the figures that looked like demons were chasing other non human beings and hunting them. Then we saw fire and destruction along with voice saying. "They are coming." I am willing to wager a guess that the ones that are coming are the ones that hunted the other non humans. You don't need to be a genius to know that if they are coming here, the same thing's going to happen to everyone on this dimension"))

Naruto frowned as he got on the top of a building's water tower and spoke one more time to his long time partner.

(So it's a warning, wager a guess we're not the only ones getting this Kurama?)

(("Nope, if it's as bad as those dreams suggest, there's bound to be others who got the dream too, wager a guess one such person would be Superman. I guess that we're going to have to go there to Metropolis again and stake things out a bit."))

Naruto nodded and then spotted what appeared to be another hostage situation, only this time it was in a very large building and as he used his Senjutsu senses, he found at least a dozen and a half people all over the place in the building. And there was a larger amount of other chakra signatures as well. Judging by the pattern of the first batch, they were the hostage takers. Naruto quickly observed the situation and decided to intervene just a bit by lessening the numbers facing the cops. Plus there was a chance that they might be walking into a trap if the hostage takers had planned ahead.

…

Two days later…

Naruto was quick to arrive at Metropolis after taking the time to try another route and that was by sneaking into a passenger plane. As soon as the plane was opening it's landing gear, Naruto leaped out and as soon as he hit the ground safely with chakra enhancement on his bones and muscles on his legs, he quickly moved into the city.

He had sent a message to his editor that he was going to be gone for at least a few days to tackle some personal matters, but not before sending the next script of his story to his editor. Once that was over, he snuck once more into a plane bound for Metropolis since going at it by train was a bad idea. Never go into the same land in the same way twice as his sensei used to say since there's always a chance someone would get wise to you.

As soon as he was in the clear, he switched disguises once more, coloring his hair a deep black and then using his Henge to hide his whisker marks. He was now dressed in the regular male fashions of blue t-shirt with white undershirt, grey pants and shoes. Not the exactly stylish, but normal looking as far as he was concerned. And as soon as he was away from the airport and away from security, he blended into the rest of the people going to and fro in the city streets.

The incident in L.A had been resolved when he took down a few of the hostage takers and left the rest for the police. The ones he had dealt with were not too bad, and when the police came in, they found the ones he had taken out tied up and stripped of their guns. Naruto had just left his calling card, a metal piece that looked like red flames with a black shadow background. Once that he was done, and moved around the city to see if there was any other matter that he had to deal with.

Finding none, he decided to head back and pack what he needed to go to Metropolis and see if what Kurama and he suspected was right on the money. Besides, if it did not work out, he could always go up and have a bit of fun by saying hi to Superman and his cousin later on, as well as that dude Steel. And now here he was in metropolis once more and he was off to get himself a place to stay, though he decided a low cost apartment was more in order to keep it simple.

He went apartment hunting and after half the day and a hearty lunch found a nice place in the western side of the city. It was only at one hundred dollars a month and since he paid a full five hundred for as long as he was there in the city, the owner was all right with it. He did not bring a lot of stuff and since he had no deadline to worry about until next month, he did not bring his Laptop and USBs and kept the two safe in his base back in L.A. Setting himself in, he decided to operate now at night, no more moving about in day time, he was a ninja after all and while morning runs were all right with him, he decided early on that it was only in L.A he was going to do this.

…

Night over Metropolis.

Naruto had waited for night to arrive and soon moved out and while he wore his clothing, he was also making sure to stick to the shadows. Running over the roof tops and swinging away before anyone could see him, he soon moved to the Daily Planet and switched to using his Senjutsu once more. That did not take long as he soon felt the chakra signatures of the people inside, it was obvious that Superman was not inside the building so he moved out, but not before leaving another Kage Bunshin to scan the area in another direction.

(Where is he?)

As he moved further to the city limits, he felt the faint trail of chakra that was uniquely Superman's and followed it as fast as he could. He made sure to be at high speed as the trail grew stronger and fresher, only to encounter another chakra signature he did not expect. It was not enough to slow him down as he moved through the trees and in the shadows, but it was enough to make him curious.

(That's Batman's chakra signature.)

(("Hmmm, that's unexpected, what is tall dark and brooding doing here in Metropolis?"))

(Guess we're about to find out.)

And find out the Jinchuuriki and his Bijuu partner did as they arrived at a massive building that Naruto recognized as an observatory. And the said observatory was one of those so called deep space models as well judging by the sheer size of it. He had managed to read some of it when he studied the country he was in, dipping a bit into science. He never did understand the fascination people had for looking at the stars and all though he did it when he was deep in thought when he was younger. That train of thought ended when he spotted Superman on the top of the dish as he climbed up the nearest and highest tree away from the tree line.

He could not see that well but apparently Batman was pursuing three figures who might be a lot more dangerous than he expected since Superman was behind him. He looked on to see just how this was going to go down but suddenly he spotted Superman suddenly begin to spasm somewhat and then fall down from the sky. And at that same time, both he and Kurama were suddenly hit by another series of vivid dreams. The blonde gritted his teeth in annoyance as Kurama growled a bit at the sudden mental assault as he spoke out.

(("Damn it…when I find this mental hijacker, I am going to shove my fists down his ears and see how he likes it when something unwanted gets shoved in his head!"))

Naruto agreed as he fought back the images and looked to the sight, only to see the whole station suddenly go boom. He saw that Superman was still out of it as the three figures leaped away as both Batman and Superman were sent flying. He quickly recovered, jumped off the tree, landed easily on the ground and rushed to save both Batman and Superman as he leaped upward with his chakra helping increase his leaping ability and then fired both chakra chains at them. Batman spotted him and realized he was there to help.

…

The chains caught both Batman and Superman as Naruto quickly yanked the two of them away from the heat and debris of the blast and then lowering them to the ground. Naruto was pleased at least the two heroes were unharmed as he laid the two of them safely. He turned to see the three figures who looked like they had just been sent into the blender. Yet he quickly saw them move and rearrange themselves back together and the three of them smirked arrogantly at him and no doubt to Batman and Superman as well.

Naruto glared at the three alien beings and he quickly walked towards them, the three smirked at the blonde, but that got them into trouble as Naruto suddenly faded from sight to appear right behind the woman and smashed a chakra enhanced fist right into the gut. The blow was enough to surprise the three as there was some serious power in said punch as the disguised female was sent rolling off and then slamming into the tree.

The other aliens were briefly surprised by that but that shock faded as they quickly attacked Naruto as he expected but, he did not survive for nearly a century to be caught flat footed by anyone or anything. He blocked the kick aimed to his head while quickly flipping upwards and landing a chakra reinforced heel kick on the chin of the second attacker as it was about to punch him. The attack sent the undeniably none human foe back while Naruto quickly turned and smashed a knee into the face of his other attacker and the strength actually sent the face contorting in a very unsightly fashion.

He flipped back and replied.

"You three might not be human, but that does not mean you are immune to getting your asses kicked! Come on, is that be the best you three bugs have?"

The aliens were about to attack when the one Naruto knocked back shouted in the human language of English.

"ENOUGH! We must not waste time!"

The two got away and as Naruto was about to follow them, Kurama spoke to him.

(("That could be a trap Naruto, let them get away for now, I get the feeling we can track them down later, for now let's go greet the gang."))

Naruto nodded as he knew that despite their alien energy signatures, he could find them well enough later so had to check on Batman. He turned to see that Batman seemed to be all right and Superman himself seemed to be up and about now. The blonde smiled behind his mask as he saw that Superman had indeed recovered, though the shocked look was a bit of a concern for him. He however spoke to both heroes in a friendly tone.

"Nice to see you two again even if the meeting is not exactly the kind one sets tea and biscuits for. Though I am curious as to why Batman's in Metropolis since Gotham's usually your base of operations."

Batman glared a bit and replied.

"That's not really something you should be concerned with right now Hokage."

Naruto shook his head and replied.

"That might change soon enough Batman, if what I saw was any indication, by the way Superman, had any interesting and vivid dreams lately?"

Superman was quick to look at the Hokage and he could not help feel that the only reason the Hokage would ask him that, was if he had the same dreams too. The Hokage had indeed kept his word in not revealing his secrets for the past few months now so he was in a more relaxed mood. He had a meeting with Kara when he found out that she had gone to Los Angeles and while he was curious about the outcome, he was relieved that Kara had decided to let the matter of the Hokage knowing his identity be. He however suspected that Naruto had done something to convince Kara to finally let the matter be, he wanted to know what it was, but Kara was tight lipped about it, not something he expected but decided to let lie.

Besides he had a feeling that there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"You could…say that, I take it the reason you came back here to Metropolis is that you had the same dreams too?"

"You got that right, my partner told me he suspects that those dreams were not ours, something or someone sent them to us."

Superman and Batman raised an eyebrow to that and Batman turned to Superman for confirmation.

"You've been having dreams Superman?"

"Correct and none of them were the least bit friendly, I can tell you both that I have a feeling that they are not mine. Your partner said that he suspects someone or something is sending you and me these dreams?"

"Yep, he also said that he thinks it's a warning. I'm not all that sure if it is a warning and neither is he yet, but the fact that you had the same dreams as I did means I am not losing my marbles. So if it is a warning, it's pretty serious, and too much to ignore. This night's festivities tell me that the dreams and this attack might be connected."

Batman had to admit that it made some sense, those three scientists he had been fighting before were anything but human, and the device that he suspected now was some sort of bomb was proof of it. That was nothing like any known human technology and certainly not the kind common criminals used, and certainly not the creation of any of his Rogue's gallery. He then spoke to Naruto as he wondered just who this partner of the Hokage was since he was sure that Naruto usually operated alone.

"What exactly made your partner suspect it was a warning?"

"Because when I told him the dream, he knew immediately that it was not mine, and he suspected that someone or something sent it through me. I trust him since I worked with him for a very long time and while he's hard to find by your means, he's not in mine."

The two other heroes remained silent for a while, and Naruto could silently hear Kurama snorting a bit in triumph and he could not help but expect that. Batman decided to speak to the two as he knew that if this was merely the beginning, then they would each have to be on guard..

"If those three were part of it and these dreams are warnings, then we all have to get ready for anything. This is not the first time this happened actually, several Waynetech deep space observatories all over the world have been taken down already but only after sending out very powerful and encrypted signals into deep space. And now I know by whom or rather what. You do know what these places do right Hokage?"

Naruto looked at Batman and replied in a slightly annoyed fashion.

"Please, just because I don't exactly delve into this science stuff does not mean I don't know what they are for. The fact that these places were hit must mean something."

Superman nodded in agreement.

"He's got a point, you need any help in figuring this out Batman?"

"No need, I'll be able to handle this on my own, I've already got the key details in my hands."

Superman sighed at that but he decided to give both the Hokage and Batman communication watches as he moved out of the area. No doubt the fire department was coming and as Batman turned to speak to Naruto, he found himself looking at thin air. The blonde had managed to escape his attention long before he even knew it, further reinforcing to Bruce that the blonde who looked like a teen was anything but a teen.

And he also realized that he now felt what Gordon felt every time he decided to check out before he could finish.

(I wonder if Gordon ever thought of nailing my feet to the floor when I did that?)

…

In Gotham…

"ACHOOO!"

James Gordon was busy reading the news at his home, and that was something that did not happen often as Barbara came back into the kitchen carrying a dish filled with greens for a salad.

"Dad, are you coming down with a cold or something?"

"No, I had the cold only eight months ago Barb."

…

The situation in Metropolis was still very much the same as before the next day as not many were aware of what was going on. Though Naruto was currently watching a large protest going on while still in Henge to avoid being seen easily in the same disguise as before, though with a different wardrobe of while shirt, and brown pants with brown shoes. He had heard about these devices called nuclear weapons and what he learned was enough to remind him of Hotaru, and the Kinjutsu she had in her. This was similar though it was done with stuff he could not even begin to guess. But there was no doubt the stuff was highly destructive so he could not say he was against them rallying and protesting.

He then watched in a television set in a diner while having lunch the recapping of the current meeting with the world assembly which reminded him of the Council back home in Konoha. Only difference was that it had all the leaders of the world together like the Kage Summit that he heard about from Gaara and Mei. The man named Senator Carter was one of the heroes of some expedition on another world called Mars had appointed Superman to be the one to help defend earth and thus the need for nuclear weapons was over.

The military naturally protested the whole thing and Naruto could not entirely blame them for it, having been Hokage for a number of years had taught him the value of having a strong armed force for defense and offense, even more so when protecting the peace he and so many fought long and hard for. He also felt that Superman's acceptance and actions was somewhat misguided.

Itachi had told him long ago when the brother of his best friend was brought back to life, that the reason his father Minato became Hokage was because the villagers acknowledged him. And he cared for the people as well as he did Kushina and him when he was born. Taking on the responsibility of saving and protecting the world as if it was your burden was a dangerous path in Itachi's mind as he said that he could have very well been Madara had he forgotten that and his friends.

Superman was powerful, but he was one hero and no one, not even the Man of Steel can do everything by himself. That was why he had to agree with the hero named Flash that he had his doubts about the whole affair.

However, he knew that he had his own matters to deal with and he decided to see if he could find Batman if the Dark Knight was still doing his work in the city while he was here. As he walked out and headed to his apartment, he waited for night to come in and blanket the city.

…

Night over Metropolis…

Naruto used his Senjutsu to try and locate the signature that he knew was associated to Batman and soon moved out in full disguise, he moved from roof top to roof top as he scanned the city. It was not long before he finally sensed Batman's chakra signature and began to track it. He soon arrived at one massive building that went by the name of STAR Labs, which he had heard about in passing. He wondered just what brought the dark Knight here until he spotted the very same disguised beings as before. He would have decided to take them on when he suddenly felt a fluctuation in Batman's chakra signature.

He realized then that something bad was going down as he moved deep in the building. Only to see Batman knocked out and one of the ugliest looking dogs he had ever seen about to chomp on Batman. He quickly rushed in and launched a chakra enhanced kick to the side of the creature. The creature roared in surprise as it turned to try and take off Naruto's head with a bite, Naruto quickly ducked and then launched himself upward with a knee to the lower form of the alien. The creature was sent back and Naruto quickly summoned another pair of Kage Bunshin. The third Kage Bunshin charged and kicked the creature in the lower jaw and as soon as it poofed away as both Naruto and the Kage Bunshin attacked the alien as one force.

Naruto growled as he and his Kage Bunshin quickly shoved an Odama Rasengan right into the mouth of said alien dog with a curse.

"CHOKE ON THIS! ODAMA RASENGAN!"

The sphere smashed into the alien creature which roared in pain as the energy sphere wasted no time in ripping the creature literally in half. The creature soon died as Naruto was able to see that it was nothing but one major mess on the floor, along with splashes of the creature all over the walls and out at the back. One was for sure, if that monstrosity of a dog was still alive, he'd eat his Forehead protector. Naruto turned to check on Batman and saw that he had pressed the watch Superman gave him a few days ago so it was a promise that Superman was well on his way.

(("That's only going to happen if that being who's been hijacking dreams decided not to do it to him mid flight and send him crashing down like last time."))

Naruto ignored the jib and began to check on the unconscious hero, he did have a concussion plus a few sore muscles and possibly a cracked rib or two. Naruto was not a full blown Medic Nin but he was quick to guess that some serious patching up was in order. He summoned his chakra and began to use the Healing Jutsu he had been trained in by both Tsunade and Sakura and his hands were now glowing with green energy.

Batman began to breath a bit better and Naruto could sense through his still active Senjutsu senses that his body was recovering. It was here that Superman finally arrived and walked or rather flew in, Naruto did not have to turn around to know that Superman was worried for Batman and he replied.

"Don't worry, I'm patching him up right now Superman, but I think the REAL scientists are going to need some help after this."

It was here that Batman finally recovered consciousness, and he was surprised since after getting himself tossed around by that alien creature, he just woke up and felt…fine, better than fine. He looked to see that Superman and the Hokage was there, and Naruto was currently facing the original scientists and his hands were actually glowing in green energy.

He raised his eyebrows and Superman replied.

"Hokage said he used a Healing Jutsu to patch you up, and now he is treating the scientists, how are you feeling?"

Batman grunted a bit and replied.

"I'll be fine."

Though in truth he was quite impressed, he had undergone some mystical healing techniques before, but not one that was able to patch him up this fast. And as he looked briefly at Naruto, and the green energy in his hands, he could not help but feel that there was a lot of mystery yet to be answered with the blonde. He walked over to Naruto and spoke to him as the blonde moved his hand away from the last scientist.

"How are they?"

"They'll live, but I doubt that they can remember anything prior to the whole kidnapping routine done to them. How about you? I'm not skilled Medic Nin since I don't use the technique all that much so I hope you are feeling all right."

"I'll manage, but the help is appreciated."

That was when a massive flaring light suddenly lit up the abandoned lab and soon all three heroes moved out to see a massive streaking rock come in. Naruto who was still using his Senjutsu senses, picked up something. It was faint but it was there inside the massive celestial body, it was alive yet not at the same time, and it was not the least bit human.

"I think we've just gotten invaded."

…

Naruto and the others were already moving out when Naruto's assessment of the situation came right on the money as the massive comet suddenly released a massive amount of smoke and gas. That release was soon followed by a massive leg that came out and nearly skewered a pair of officers that Superman saved. Then two more joined said limb and out came one of the ugliest things the blonde had ever seen. But that was soon changed by the sudden blast of energy the thing unleashed as it blew up a car, forcing Naruto to quickly save several people from the flying debris just as Superman decided to attack.

Batman pulled back as he knew that no amount of weapons that he had was going to do him much good as he headed back to get to his plane. He had no idea of his machine's weapons were going to work, but he knew that he did not have a whole lot of options. As for Naruto he quickly turned to see Superman suddenly being blasted backwards by a massive beam like he was nothing. He heard Superman scream in pain as he decided to fight back.

He took out a scroll, unwrapped it and quickly summoned out a whole row of at least a hundred kunai with explosive tags. He learned enough on how to make explosive tags on his own and these were armed with enough explosive force to shatter a stone wall and were boosted somewhat by his chakra. It was unknown to him if they were going to be enough to harm but they were going to have to do for now in order to keep the alien walker away from harming the people.

The explosions forced the alien walker to focus on Naruto and the blonde quickly moved out of the way as a beam was fired in his direction. He evaded the attack and quickly saved a pair of civilians from the debris as he quickly began to summon more of his explosive tagged kunai and even took out a massive Fuuma Shuriken with explosive tags. The people gaped at the massive bladed weapon briefly as Naruto tossed it at the walker and it exploded once more, this time it had some results as some of the alien's armor was shorn off.

Superman soon returned and so did Batman in his fighter and they began to pour it on the aliens, but they were not doing well enough as more meteors fell and soon more of the alien machines came in the field.

Naruto was annoyed by this and began to think that summoning Kurama was a better move than just sticking to what he was using right now. But that was taken out of the equation when the walker began to fire at him and charge at the same time. That combined attack soon sent Naruto running into a building just as the alien walker decided to smash the roof and the rest of the wall, with the intent of burying Naruto in the rubble.

…

Superman saw that and was shocked as he tried to reach Naruto but was soon blasted once more by a blast of memories. One of the nearby reporters came in to try and help Superman who recovered, and then told the reporter that he had to deal with something and soon left. That was not unnoticed by everyone and soon the people were in a panic as they had thought that Superman had turned tail and ran.

Batman on the other hand was not easily convinced and soon turned his attention to following Clark. There had to be a reason on why was it that Clark would do that and he had every intention of finding out what that reason was.

…

Back in the ruins…

"Damn that was close!"

Naruto shouted out a bit as he quickly pushed off the slab of concrete that had covered the place he had managed to get into cover after that giant thing tried to turn him into powder as well as bury him. As soon as the slab was clear he got out and cough away the dust and dirt, as well as wiping his hair and clothes clean. He then looked about and spotted the thing walking away and turned his attention to the nearby reporter who seemed to be recovering as he was. He quickly got over to the man and was happy that his chakra enhanced mask was still whole to hide his face as he spoke to man.

"Where the heck are Superman and Batman?"

The reporter was surprised to see Naruto alive after what happened and pointed at a direction from Metropolis.

"They took off in that direction! Why the heck did they leave? We need them here to stop these invaders!"

"They must have left for a reason, to look for something or someone I think. Listen you've got to get out of here and get as many people as you can to safety."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to go and try to track down those two and find out what's so important that they left. But first, I have to help out the cops!"

Naruto quickly took off in another direction as he spotted some police officers trying to fire back at one of the machines, but their weapons were not doing much good. The bullets seemed to either bounce off like they were rubber or did not even bite deep into the fleshly looking white and black armor of the creatures. Naruto quickly used his Senjutsu senses and could tell that these things were definitely not living beings. They were more like machines, like giant versions of dolls and some…odd memory he had recalled a few times before in his younger years.

He placed that aside as he saw the police run back as the thing turned and fired at the area before them, apparently to weaken the group and then finish them off. The thing began to aim at them and Naruto was quick to react as he grabbed a nearby car, using his chakra enhanced strength he tossed the vehicle just as the beam fired. The beam hit the vehicle Naruto turned into an impromptu missile and exploded and managed to take the brunt of the beam and allow the cops to move away.

The alien walker turned towards Naruto as he quickly moved to create a trio of Kage Bunshin and soon made his Rasenshuriken. The alien fired the beam as Naruto tossed the chakra sphere with Nature transformation at him. The beam missed the sphere and the projectile made by Naruto's chakra managed to slam hard into the side of the alien walker. The impact was enough to tear a chunk off the alien walker but it was still intact as Naruto seemed to be consumed by the blast of fire as the ruined vehicle fell down in two different pieces on the street. But the walker was not able to dodge in time as Naruto had actually used one of his father's kunai to move the side of the building nearby, right in the level of the thing's eye cannon.

Naruto quickly charged in and unleashed a powerful Rasenshuriken right into the face of the alien walker before it could fire. The result was a massive tearing sound as the front of the alien walker was destroyed and soon fell down to the ground in a ruined heap. Naruto landed back down and moved to the police who were impressed by what had happened. He saw that some of them were wounded and he knew that he had to use some of the training he got in Medical Jutsu even if he was tired.

However, a band of medical personnel appeared and he helped them take the wounded away as one of the cops, an older officer spoke.

:"Thanks for the help Hokage, but I think we're going to need more than just you. Why the heck did Superman and Batman leave?"

"They must be looking for allies to fight them, even if he is Superman and he is Batman, they are not going to do this alone."

"Y-You got a point, but who else is going to help?"

"I don't know, but I am going to find them, you guys don't give up all right?"

"No worries kid, this old dog's still got some sharp teeth, and when that alien warlord came here, the Metropolis Police held their own, so we are not going to let these alien bastards take our world without a fight!"

Naruto smiled at that as he focused his chakra once more to try and locate both Batman and Superman. He was happy that his second Kage Bunshin had lasted long enough to send him the Senjutsu chakra and soon he was off, trying to track down Superman's unique chakra signature, and there was a faint trail of the stuff as well so while it was going to take a bit, it was not lost to him. As soon as he got it, he quickly pulled out of the city, and it galled him to have to leave as well, but he felt it was better to find out where they were going.

…

While all this was going on…

Diana could not help but feel guilty as she moved deep into the temple while covering herself in a hooded robe. By all rights she should not do this, going into the Temple of Athena like a common thief was going against her grain and upbringing. But she could not help but feel that this was the proper course of action even if there was no doubt in her mind that her mother Hippolyta would not take kindly to it.

Diana was a member of the mythical Amazons of Themyscira, women of the past who had been allowed to live on the island as it was both their home and their mission to guard the gate into the underworld. Her mother Hippolyta was supposedly placed this duty for her unwitting part in an ancient rebellion by her lover Hades against his brother. That and many of the Amazons had been victims of man's actions centuries prior. Thus men were not welcomed on Themyscira and considered as inferior and cruel barbarians.

She too had been trained to never trust men and she had the same beliefs to the negative qualities men had. But unlike her fellow Amazons, Diana was willful, empathic, and also had one trait that at times had been a bit of a pain for her mother. That was her curiosity towards Man's world; she was always curious about what it was like at Man's World and also wanted to see if it was truly as bad as her people had said.

She had at times worried about Man's world since she felt that they could better defend themselves if they understood what the world of men was like. Hippolyta was willing to tolerate that and loved her either way, but told Diana not to think too hard on the fate of men and just be with her people as the Gods would be there to protect them. This normally would have placated anyone, but not her.

And now here she was, before the altar of Athena where the mystical armor of their people's champion lay. She had a feeling that these would soon be given to the one who would serve as their champion in Man's World, but now she was going to use them help man in what she felt was their darkest hour. This was something she had hoped not to do, but in her heart, Diana felt that it was right.

She looked one more time to her homeland and to where her mother was currently sleeping in and spoke gently.

"I am sorry mother for this, but I have to do it."

Diana removed her hood and then the robe as she began to don on the armor of her people's champion.

…

As he got to where Batman and Superman had gone, Naruto hoped that they were soon going to be found and they all can get back into figuring out how to deal with these creatures. But that was when his danger senses kicked in and he stopped as he was now on top of a high rock face.

He then spotted a number of strange things chasing the plane Batman was piloting. Superman was quickly fighting the alien things and Naruto decided to get into the fight fast before things got really complicated. He quickly focused his chakra and then fired out a chakra chain towards Batman's plane, namely one of the wings in order to get to him. The chain soon wrapped around the wing and he quickly moved to pull himself to the plane.

It was not a very good ride for Naruto but he was not going to waste time with the whole thing as he landed on the wing, right to the moment Batman turned to see him. The blonde turned and quickly did some hand seals as another of the alien fighters came at the fighter. Once he was done, he summoned the attack with a field of air appear at his hands.

"FUUTON! KYOJIN SHURIKEN!"

The massive blasts of wind took the form of Shuriken that flew right into the proverbial faces of the alien fighters. One got shredded and was soon going down while another was severely hit on the side of the wing and sent careening away, no doubt to get repaired while the other got the hit right in the face and blew up. Naruto turned and then caught the sight of the strange green skinned dude suddenly turn…translucent and go out of the flying plane Batman owned and then joined them. He whistled at that and commented on it to himself and Kurama as well.

(Damn, that was like that skill Tobi had back in the day, but there's no way that guy's either a ninja, or human.)

(("This world's getting all the more interesting! Come it kit, I think we FINALLY got some real enemies to fight!"))

Naruto could tell that Kurama was excited as he summoned more of his chakra and then fired out a blast of Fire Chakra, copying the same technique Sasuke had used on him from before. And it was something that he had spent years working on as well since who knew when the move might come in handy.

"KAITON! HOSENKA NO JUTSU!"

The massive ball of fire erupted from his mouth and then exploded into a wave of massive fireballs that came out like machine gun rounds or like buckshot out of a shotgun as the alien fighters were hit and one was covered in fire and soon crashed while another swerved away. Yet more were coming towards them and Naruto was able to turn when another beam came at him and Batman.

Superman came in and managed to block on the beams with his own heat vision as he spoke to Naruto and Batman.

"Move you two! I can't hold him off forever!"

Naruto saw that Clark must have been tired somewhat from the fighting and quickly grabbed one of his father's patented kunai and tossed it at the alien. He quickly vanished from the Bat Jet and appeared over the alien fighter with his father's kunai in hand. He then landed on the alien and took out his swords and then channeled his chakra into both swords and slashed into the back of the organic looking fighter. The weapons caused damage and forced it to stop firing as Superman and now moved into the process of shaking him off. Naruto managed to use his chakra to hold on as best as he could on the fighter before decided to focus his chakra to his swords once more and then attacked.

"FUUTON KENJUTSU! KYOJIN WANGETSU DAGEKI!"

The two swords each unleashed a massive curved cutting blade of pure chakra enhanced wind that managed to skewer their way through the alien fighter as Naruto quickly leaped away and managed to land on a nearby mountain by using his wind chakra to act as a form of primitive thrust to keep him from going splat even with his Senjutsu chakra still in him. Just in time to see Batman's fighter take a hit on the very same wing that he had been on only moments before. He quickly began to focus his chakra to create his Wind Armor when he spotted a beam of green light suddenly surround the crippled machine.

He looked and saw none other than the hero known as Green Lantern, he had a feeling that there were going to be others coming in soon. He placed that aside as he landed on the mountain and quickly moved down the mountain side as another alien fighter strafed at him with it's weapons. The blonde quickly moved to avoid the shots and quickly fired several of his shuriken which he imbued with his Senjutsu chakra to cause above normal damage. They hit the alien fighter, but not hard enough to cause crippling damage, even when they managed to go in deep. He quickly threw his father's kunai to quickly avoid the alien's next barrage and soon was on the mountain side, only to see another figure appear in the field, and one with wings no less. And this one also happened to have a very unique chakra signature on it as well.

(("Looks like this battle is about to get really crowded, we got some new arrivals."))

Naruto mentally agreed with Kurama and turned when he sensed two more signatures, one was human, though a bit different than the chakra signature of Batman's. And the other one was very different as well, telling him that the new arrival was not human. He turned to watch the battle just as yet another figure joined the whole mess. This time however, Naruto's Senjutsu chakra senses were surprised to feel the very strong energy coming from her. Whoever this new arrival was, the person had a LOT of chakra in her, along with another energy source that felt very different.

The chakra felt very strong and thick, it also felt human yet not at the same time, making Naruto all the more confused by what he was feeling through his Sage Mode. He decided to help but quickly using the same techniques as before to take out the alien fighters from the sky while he was on the ground. The massive shuriken and mass fireballs did what they were meant to do as several more alien fighters were sent down to the ground. He then summoned his Wind Armor to take to the skies a bit more and was soon charged at by one of the last remaining alien fighters as the rest were either gone or were limping away.

He unleashed his last attack which was a Rasenshuriken which was a lot harder to pull off in the sky than it was on the ground while he was still in Sage Mode. But the result was worth it as the last alien fighter was now nothing more than descending debris The battles seemed to come to an end and that was something the blonde was happy for as he saw the heroes converging on where Green Lantern had lowered the plane he had just rescued.

…

As the blonde got down to the ground using his father's special kunai, he got up and took it back to be hidden away as he was soon going to be joined by the others. Naruto sat next to a rock nearby that was not torn to bits in the fighting and looked at the company coming in.

He had no problem recognizing Batman and Superman in the least, and he had seen images of Flash in the news every now and then though the speedster was moving a bit too fast for his liking. And he had seen Green Lantern in action. But the others were rather new to him in many ways, it was obvious to him that the green skinned being was an alien and possibly the one who had been sending him the images for a while now.

But his attention was riveted on the two women who were with them right now, and he was always a sucker for attractive women. And these two fit the bill VERY nicely.

The first was a long haired woman with raven black hair that looked silky and well groomed, she had deep blue eyes, red lips that had no flaw, and a well formed and flawless face that Naruto could tell had no flaws and had all the positive traits that a beautiful woman would have. It was as if she was either blessed by the gods in this world, if there were any, with great beauty and no doubt her family would be gifted with such as well. She was definitely the kind his Godfather and sensei would have loved to research about.

It was not just the face and looks too; her body was well sculpted and had no signs of fat anywhere that did not need fat. Her bust was very well formed and was around the same size as his late wife Hinata's with a bit more fullness to the size of Mei and possibly Tsunade, yet she did not seem the least bit troubled by them. She was all and very statuesque and would have really gotten a lot of attention anywhere she went, even more so with the clothing/armor she had on. The getup she had on was comprised of a pair of silver bracers, a pair of star shaped earrings, a type of sleeveless and strapless top that was made from red with some sort of marks in gold in the middle and the 'wings' that were on the area of her well formed bust, on the waist was a golden metal belt, and the…lower part made from blue material that looked metallic with stars on it, there was a golden lasso on her hip and wearing half calf boots with silver metal.

He had no idea who made that costume of hers but it was not the least bit lacking in giving her a very sexy yet ass kicking look. The way she moved and stood also told him that she might be royalty and the aura he was picking up confirmed it. Couple that with her skills as far as he had seen, showing her respect was something of a mandatory thing, which was something he learned early on when he was a Hokage since he had met many women who were not only strong but had an air around them and were worthy of respect, and after all, he was married to a princess himself who he loved deeply and who had her own strength of will.

The second woman had copper-red hair and wore a mask that had the look of a predatory bird and wore what could be described as interesting. Her face might be distorted and hidden by the said mask, but there was no doubt that she was attractive, as he also saw the deep green eyes in the holes, plus the full lips to boot. Her body was also well toned and shaped with muscle and not a single trace of fat anywhere on her, the bust was also around the size of Koyuki's though having a bit of fullness to it as well so she definitely had a body to die for. The wings only served to add to the whole exotic look that she was releasing.

The upper part of her costume was in the same style but was light yellow cream in color which held her more than ample bust and hugged her frame very well. She had a green belt with metallic buckle, a set of green skin tight pants of some material he could not identify, with red boots and a red style lower portion that he knew had best not be described in too much detail. Add that to the wicked looking mace she had with her and held on with a strap of leather like material on the wrist. She looked very attractive in an exotic way and yet looked like she would easily smash your face in if given a chance.

(Damn…whoever they are, they definitely would be very interesting to talk to.)

(("Hmm, I suppose, though the dark haired one seems to have trace energies coming from her, definitely more than mere chakra, possibly magic."))

The soon to come discussion between Naruto and Kurama was cut short when Superman came to face him.

"You all right Hokage?"

"Yeah, managed to dig my way out of the ruin I was in earlier, damn thing should have tried to find my body first instead of walking away. That way it would not have gotten a Rasenshuriken in the face."

Superman did not know how to respond to that and decided not to comment just yet as the other heroes were arriving in their own fashion.

It was here that Flash spoke the very second the got sight of Diana when handing the torn off wing of Batman's plane.

"Hey Bats, I think you dropped this."

It was here that Diana and Superman landed and the second the speedster from Central City spotted the Amazon Princess, he was immediately attracted, as any normal man would, and he picked what he deemed as a classic pick up line as he handed the piece back to Batman who decided not to glare at Flash, until later that is..

"Whoa…where have you been all my life?"

"Themyscira."

Diana being unused to the world of men, and namely the modern world as her homeland had been isolated for a VERY long time was responding to Flash's question in a straight forward manner. This meant that she was very much unaware of the hidden meaning behind Flash's question.

Flash himself was surprised.

"What?"

That was when Shaeyra gave the answer to that particular question.

"That's the name of the home of the all female warrior culture of the Amazons. I thought that place was just a legend?"

They were soon joined by Super-man, J'onn, and Green Lantern; Diana then spoke to Shaeyra and in turn introduced herself to the other assembled heroes.

"I assure you that it is as real as the land we are standing on right now, I am Diana, Princess of the Amazons."

Naruto smirked a bit behind his mask and replied.

"You're from a nation of women warriors called the Amazons?"

"Yes, and as I have stated earlier I am a princess of my homeland, does that surprise you?"

Naruto shook his head and replied.

"Hardly, I've met women of your same rank and position so I know a princess when I see one. It's a privilege to see one of your position willing to fight in battle since I've only met few princesses willing to get their hands dirty. I even met the…queen as you can call her of a ninja village who also happen to be an all women ninja force and she was not afraid to drive her fist into the face of a foe threatening her people. So I guess I should bid you welcome Princess Diana of the Amazons, you fight very well so you are certainly welcome to join this battle."

What he said to Diana was not a complete lie; after all, he did encounter the head of the Nadeshiko Village Shizuka and her attendant/body guard. And her village's people did have something of a society similar to Diana's people the Amazons since all of their ninja were female. He never set foot in the place himself due to their isolationism at times but he was on good terms with Shizuka who was currently their village leader and was one heck of a fighter. He had no idea if she ever changed the laws of her people, but the fact that she was married when he met her again indicated that she did.

Plus he did read about the term Amazon in his search in the internet and had to admit that the information was kind of hard to swallow. But he was also the kind of guy who now in his age preferred not to make any sudden assumptions as that had gotten him in more trouble, and physical altercations in his life. All of which in hindsight, he could do without.

The green skinned being moved over to him and spoke to Naruto.

"So I see that you are here, it's good to know that you are alive, when I tried to scan for you while I was held captive, you briefly disappeared and I was afraid you were lost."

Naruto replied neutrally to that.

"I take it you were the one who sent the images into my head and Superman's?"

"Yes, I apologize for the pain the visions I sent have caused you, but when I was captured, I had to exert a lot more power in order to reach out to you and anyone else I could summon to help fight the invaders. I did the same to everyone here as well since this threat is too much for just one hero to take on alone."

"You know, you have made sleeping for me the least comfortable activity in my life, and that was something I was hardly fond of. You have any idea how many NICE dreams you spoiled for me? But I am willing to let that slide…provided you tell us all what those warnings were for."

Flash then spoke to the others as he was getting all the more confused by the moment.

"Look, I'm usually the kind of guy who's fast on the uptake, but I am with the blonde dude with the mask and the ninja getup, can someone at least tell me what the heck is going on here?"

…

J'onn quickly began to fill them in on what happened on Mars nearly a millennia ago, his people had a bright and glorious civilization, and at the height of their prosperity and peace. The invaders shattered that as they came and soon the Marians were in war. They abhorred the taking of any life but to save what they could of their people. But the battles cost them dearly as the invaders fed on their psychic energies, and when they grew weaker, the enemy grew stronger and even took their ability of shape shifting.

He and his fellow survivors launched a final desperate assault to use a special nerve gas that they had developed and soon they attacked the stronghold. It was a successful operation, but the price was fatal, as this left J'onn as the last Martian left alive. He made it his mission to contain them in their Citadel in stasis but after five hundred years, the Mars mission undertaken by the astronauts freed the Invaders and with his people gone, the aliens targeted Earth next.

…

As soon as J'onn was done speaking about the events that doomed his people and what he had done after the Imperium had been placed in suspended animation until now, Flash was the first to speak as he could not help but feel that something was amiss.

"Hold it, if they were that bad, then why was it that no one else knows about it? The government should have done something to prepare right?"

John snorted and replied.

"Probably some pencil pusher in Washington decided to have it stripped off the records and have it classified."

Naruto however shook his head and replied.

"No…I don't think so."

Batman turned and spoke to Naruto.

"What exactly do you mean by that Hokage?"

Naruto looked at the other heroes and replied, he had been working with Kurama to put the pieces together, to answer the events of the night before and now. And what J'onn said about the Imperium and the recent things that occurred only served to complete the whole picture.

"Think this all through first, the astro, ah never mind, never could get that word right in my head, these space explorers on Mars find what you call the find of the century, only to discover that it's the biggest threat the world had ever seen. And they did not bother to report it when they had a chance? No, I think the reason no one knew about it is that when they awakened, the Imperium already made their move. An army of invaders intent on conquering a world would never reveal themselves accidently to anyone until they had the right moment. J'onn…you said the Imperium managed to take your people's ability to shape shift after they invaded your world of Mars right?"

J'onn nodded.

"Then they would have the ability to shape shift now to any form they want, and if what I and Batman saw that was done to those three human scientist is any indication. Then it's safe to assume that what happened to the group on Mars is the same. Their infiltration team came here and started doing what they could to weaken Earth's defenses. Those stations owned by Bruce were naturally the first to avoid early detection and then."

Superman paled as he quickly understood it.

"The nukes, the same ones I decommissioned by, Carter's requests."

Naruto nodded.

"Exactly, Carter never came back to Earth at all, no doubt he's either being held in a pod like the three scientists or dead already. The one we all saw on TV is no doubt head of the Imperium's infiltration team. Clever if you think about, assume the guise of a national hero, advocate the wishes of the masses to disarm nuclear weapons to strip away any means of defense, and leave Earth open to attack by the rest of the forward force. I've seen tactics like that before and my…home village was victim to such an attack by a rival force so this is to be expected. They rendered Earth deaf, dumb, and blind first, and now they destroyed the nukes so the militaries don't have anything to give them a fighting chance."

Green Lantern growled and his eyes glowed in anger at the fact that Earth was now rendered helpless for invasion.

"Like hell they are! If they think that we're going to let them set one foot on this world, they are going to get what's coming to them!"

The implications of the Imperium's attack hit home hard, and the hardest hit was Superman as he realized that he had rendered Earth powerless. The Man of Steel was silent as he contemplated what he had unwittingly done and he felt so foolish and used, a situation Naruto was quick to see and he spoke to Superman.

"Don't let that that get to you, we have to deal with the here and now Superman. That monster using Carter's form and face will be brought to account, but we have to set that aside."

Superman nodded at that as he knew that there would be time for dealing with the invader who took Senator Carter's form. They had to deal with the soon to come invasion first and foremost. But just as they were getting ready for the worst, the sky was soon being darkened and it was an unnatural cloud cover that seemed to spread all over the place. Flash saw that and was more than ready for a question on what was happening before them.

"What the heck is happening now?"

J'onn was able to provide a more than adequate answer.

"The invaders are nocturnal creatures and do not operate in the daylight, that is why they are currently deploying special factories that release a specially made ion particle field that helps block out the sun. They did the same to Mars when they invaded and that aided them considerably in eventually driving my people to extinction. No doubt this is what they are going to do once the whole world is under eternal night."

Flash decided to try and lighten the mood as it were, even though he knew that this was not going to sit well with the more serious heroes here. And naturally seeing that their foes were the night loving type, he turned to the Dark Knight himself.

"Maybe we can have Batman here go and talk to them, I mean he likes the night as they do so maybe they can be friends."

Naruto snickered a bit at that to himself as he had done something similar to lighten the mood in his missions. It didn't always work, but there was no sense in trying.

Bruce already knew that the joke was directed at him and was not in the mood for such things

"This is not the time to act funny Flash."

Flash moved towards the Martian in his usually cool and flippant fashion and replied.

"Why are we worrying anyhow, all we have to do is make of that gas and then knock them all out with it and finish them off before they can be the wiser right? And I bet that you have the gas with you as well right J'onn?"

J'onn was quick to turn that plan down the proverbial drain as he shook his head.

I am afraid that I can no longer use the gas, when we developed it, we used several rare Martian plants to do it. They do not grow on Mars anymore since the invaders ravaged my home-world. The samples I have that were still viable were destroyed when I was captured along with any of the gas supply that was usable as well. Without the plant samples, there is no way to make the gas at all."

Flash couldn't help but feel a bit defeated by that and replied lamely.

"So, uh what exactly is Plan B?"

Diana was quick to offer a solution.

"Then we should focus on the factories then, destroying those will no doubt have a crippling effect on their war efforts. If we cannot stop them with this gas, then we can at least deny them their ability to operate on the world by taking the factories down."

Naruto nodded in agreement with Diana's assessment, taking out the factories could have a deadly effect on the Imperium since the only reason they would have such places to control is if they were very vulnerable to sunlight.

"I'm with Princess Diana on that one, taking those factories out can have an effect on the invasion of these alien beings, since the only reason they would have factories to block out the sun is if they have VERY strong aversion or even a reaction to sunlight apart from being nocturnal. Plus if we manage to take down one, we might get some information on them to find out if there are any other weak points, something we and the rest of the military can certainly use."

Diana looked at the masked man with a measure of surprise, instead of telling her to not speak because she was woman, he approved of her plan instead. That was not what her tutors had said about men as they described men as being egotistical and arrogant in thinking. They viewed women as inferior and that was something Diana had learned to dislike during her sessions with them, it hardly helped matters that her mother also had ill views of men for different reasons.

She also noted something else, the energy the Hokage was using right now, for some reason or another, it was similar to the one sensed by their Priestess Mala. She began to suspect that the one that the priestess had sensed days before who could tap into nature was right there with her. That was surprising to her as she had learned from one of the few times some of her sisters came back from a foray into Man's world for scouting missions, that men no longer followed the old ways and became too reliant on technology.

This man seemed…different to her in the way he seemed to be able to tap and control energy with harmony than with force force.

…

Green Lantern glared at both Diana and Naruto and replied.

"This is not the kind of thing for rookies and ninja wannabe kids to be part of lady!"

That statement was not going to sit well with Diana as she glared at Green Lantern, the idea of him calling her a rookie despite the fact she was born and raised as a warrior galled her and she was about to respond to that. But Naruto beat her to it as the blonde was less than pleased, even more that she was.

Naruto glared darkly at Green Lantern and could not help but be insulted by the man. Calling him a kid was an annoying thing though something he can laugh off. But being called a ninja wannabe was more than annoying to the blonde, it was borderline slapping in the face insulting. The anger was for good reason, considering the fact that he was a Kage ranked Shinobi, with a LOT of skills, Jutsu, experience, as well as being a Sage, a Jinchuuriki, and had literally lived for nearly a century in the ninja arts. He was also annoyed at the fact that he was insinuating that neither he nor Diana had no place to help Humanity when it needed all the heroes it could get. He had lived a long time to know that with a war like this, now was NOT the time to be wasting energy on trying to point out who's the rookie and who's the veteran.

He made that obvious as he finally released his killing intent towards John, and while killing intent from powerful ninja was very strong, killing intent from a ninja with the level of experience like Naruto was VERY strong. That aura got the attention of every hero in the immediate area as they all shivered a bit, even more so since in doing so, Naruto allowed some of Kurama's chakra to mix with the killing intent along with him shedding his youthful nature.

Superman and Batman were surprised as Naruto's entire demeanor became cold and furious in such a way that seemed impossible for someone as young as he looked. J'onn himself took a half step back as he had not felt such emotion from anyone, Flash was surprised at the sudden change in the blonde ninja with them, Diana was also caught unaware of the sudden attitude change from the blonde warrior nest to her, and Hawkgirl looked at Naruto while slightly tightening her grip on her mace.

(That aura feels…cold, and dangerous. I've never felt anything like that before.)

The target of said aura was quick to sense that and while he remained calm looking, John Stewart had to admit that feeling that level of animosity was pretty strong stronger than most he had sensed. To see it coming from the young blonde teen was surprising as the only time he had ever felt that was from of the most battle hardened soldiers and officers in his time in the Marine Corps and among the Green Lanterns, the most obvious being the former Lantern Sinestro.

…

Naruto then spoke once more, and gone was the tone of a young teenager, but in it's place was the tone of a man of authority, experience, and power. As well as someone who was royally pissed off.

"What did you just call me, you snarky arrogant little bastard?"

Green Lantern was surprised by that as Naruto got off the rock he was sitting on, he then stepped forward and without batting an eyelash placed his sword right next to John's throat at high speed with the edge right at his throat. It had caught the dark skinned human Lantern by surprise as he did not hear the tell tale sound of a sword being drawn and he could feel the steel on his neck. He saw that Naruto's eyes were cold and glacial as the ninja spoke.

"Don't let the fact that I look like a teen blind you to who I really am. When I was only thirteen, I faced a highly trained killer who as a young man slaughtered an entire class of highly skilled warriors by himself. I also faced a person who sold his soul to wield unholy power to become a master of all techniques where I come from. I have fought on missions that could kill any regular kid in ANY city in this nation."

"I have endured pain in both body and mind that would have broken any regular teenager for years. I have fought in a war that decided the fate of not one nation, but the whole world. And I HAVE killed people before, there were only two of them, but both were criminals and terrorists of the highest order. They thought NOTHING of razing entire nations to the ground, sending countless people to the slaughter, experiment on the living AND the dead, seeing all beings as nothing more than pawns for them to play with and use for whatever sick plans they have. They DESERVED to die, and I was the one who carried it out and I did so without any hesitation."

"I am a LOT older than I look, and I have faced threats and enemies that would have killed lesser men and women at the age I look to you. I have lived my entire life as a ninja and while I do not like to take life, if there is no other choice or the enemy is too dangerous to live or no longer someone who can be saved, I will stop him, her or them, even if I have to KILL them. And where I come from, you do not ever show disrespect to your allies, as of right now, all of us here know what is at stake if these Imperium or whatever they are take over this world. Look at what they did to J'onn's world, they intend to do that here now and I will gladly sell my life to stop them before they do so."

"Now is NOT the time to be telling who the rookie is or being picky about who is on your side. The lady who you happen to have insulted from I have seen already happens to have a strength to make her on par with Superman, have the ability of flight, have excellent reflexes, have a measure of battle training and skill, and more."

He then pointed to Diana who was surprised by this and she listened intently to what the blonde ninja had to say. She had never heard of ninja before, but if this man's skill was any indication, they were very skilled warriors.

"From what I have seen, she is MORE than ready and capable to help fight these bastards from space, so you do NOT have the time to state such bullshit. The enemy does NOT give a shake of a cockroach's dick and balls if you are the veteran or the rookie, if you are man or woman. The only thing they want is to see you and everyone who opposes them DEAD. I will gladly fight by her side because she is here of her own free will and knows the results if we all fail. Which you apparently see but think that it's better to go do it the official way when now is not the time for such actions. You are going to have our help whether you want it or not, but don't EVER insult me or her ever again. And for the record…"

Naruto turned and quickly lashed out with his free hand that was coated faintly with chakra with his fingers extended and bent like claws. The results were there was a large number of boulders and trees that were at least fifty feet away from the group suddenly shredded and sent flying into the air and reduced to slivers of wood and stone. That left a very clean landscape that showed a clean cut through the entire area. Naruto turned to John and replied with a tone of finality.

"What you have seen me do earlier…is just a sample of what I can do. If you want to test me Green Lantern, go ahead. But I promise you that I will give you a beating you will NEVER forget."

With that, Naruto began to rein in his killing intent aura and sheathed his sword as he moved away and went back to where he was which was next to Diana and sat once more in the Lotus position on the rock. His features relaxing as he went back to looking like a teenager. But it was obvious that his display had unnerved some of the heroes, nevertheless, Diana was very much impressed, as she had never seen that level of sword skill as she had not even seen him draw his sword or hear it until it was at Green Lantern's throat. There were those of her sisters back home who were fast with the sword, and she was fast herself, but this Hokage as he called himself seemed to be of a caliber that would be equal or a bit higher than her sisters and herself.

She turned to Naruto who was back to being a teen in his aura which was once more warm and welcoming. A stark contrast to the aura she had felt earlier and she could not help but tell that he spoke truly about his belief in her abilities. She was curious about his powers, namely that energy he had released earlier. The energy was not evil but it was strong and had a bestial yet intelligent aura about it. It was different from the energy he had when she first saw him, she knew now that he was the one who used that energy that Mala sensed before on Themyscira, though she was still unsure on how he did it and she might decide to ask him when there was time for her to do so. But that could wait for now as they did have a more serious matter to deal with.

Batman was now more than convinced that there was more to the Hokage than he had first thought. The sudden shift of the blonde's demeanor and personality was enough to show to Bruce that he was not someone to take lightly, even more so with what he already knew of the Shinobi. The power Naruto showed earlier meant that he had a lot more skill and power than he had let on.

Superman was surprised somewhat as he had never seen the Hokage act like this before along with hearing him speak in such a manner. That was a tone that made even him feel a shiver through his skin and the energy he briefly felt was a lot more potent than he had felt in a while. It was not magic in any sense, if felt more primal and alive, it was not evil, but it was powerful and bestial yet with intelligence. Plus the way the blonde ninja acted was enough to show that he was a lot more seasoned than he looked, even more so when the two of them faced one another back in Metropolis.

Flash was wide eyed and slightly grinning at the dressing down John had gotten though he was a bit shocked at the way the blonde teen changed his nature entirely. That told him that this kid was a lot more than he seemed, and if he was indeed a ninja, not one of those one found in those movies and comics, but the actual deal, with some really cool powers then it made sense he could do those things. If that was the case, then he was all right with having the Hokage join them in this fight.

Hawkgirl had to admit to herself that she was a bit worried about the way the blonde had changed when he was insulted by Green Lantern. That kind of attitude change and the aura he gave out told her that despite his youthful looks, this blonde was no simple minded teen doing this for glory. That aura was the kind only elite warriors had, developed only after years of field experience and hardship. How that came into this guy and why he said he was older than he actually looked made her all the more curious who he was.

John managed to regain his faculties and glared at Naruto as he began to move forward until Superman stepped in.

"Now is not the time for this John, the Hokage is right, we have to work together here to deal with the threat."

John sighed a bit as he knew that Superman had a point, if they did not stop this Imperium from taking over the world, then it was over. That did not mean that he was going to easily forget what had just happened between him and the two. Though the focus of his ire was the Hokage as he had not expected the guy drawing a sword on him and he was not going to forget it any time soon.

Naruto knew that look but did not care, now was not the time for glaring, now was the time for action.

…

It did not take long for the heroes to decide that they would be better off working in separate teams to take out their targets. There was one target in the South Pacific, namely in Indonesia, another in Egypt, and the last was obviously the one in Metropolis. Once that was over, they now had to decide on the individual team's setup, and Flash, ever the flirt decided to make his choice known as he moved to Diana and placed his hand on the princess's shoulder.

"Dibs on the Amazon."

Diana did not look the least bit comfortable with what Flash was doing and Naruto was more than able to see that. He had recalled his meeting with Shizuka from the village known as Nadeshiko and coupling that with what he read about the term Amazon he could tell that this might not end well, and he decided to speak to Flash serious before it got to a point where they would get into another argument.

"Flash, I recommend that you take the hand off the lady and let Diana decide for herself who she partners with. Or else you might not end up in the best of situations."

Flash raised his eyebrow at that and Naruto replied with a sigh.

"Keep in mind that Princess Diana happens to be from a nation of women who from what I had managed to read and understand don't exactly hold men in very high regard. In fact, I think that given the chance, the only thing they might do is to knock you around at best or outright kill you at worst. Now considering that Diana happens to be their princess and no doubt heiress to the throne, the fact that you are acting in a fashion that is deemed inappropriate could be considered a very serious offense."

"And as Princess, I have no doubt that Diana right now is not the least bit comfortable around men, and the only thing you happen to be doing is not very nice to her cultural sensibilities. And no doubt a man touching an Amazon the way you are right now is considered a heinous offense, enough to get you sent to prison or a torture session at best, or lopping off of the offending appendage along with your head at worst, even more so as she is royalty. Besides…after what I have seen and we all have seen, Diana is MORE than able to take care of herself, so unless you plan on getting yourself beaten to a bloody pulp by her, I suggest you let her decide who she works with."

"Up to you if you want to go ahead, but take it from me, trying to get fresh with a super powerful woman who is not keen in the idea is going to end very badly for you."

Flash gulped as he realized that Naruto was not joking around and quickly moved his hand off of Diana though he still smiled a bit weakly at that. As for Diana she felt relieved by that as she had indeed gotten rather uncomfortable with the situation. Naruto noted hat and smirked a bit, this reminded him of the times his Godfather Jiraiya, the ninja world's greatest pervert would restrain himself whenever Tsunade was around, and for good reason as he had tried to get fresh with Tsunade too many times until that fateful day he peeked her and…and nearly gotten killed as a result.

As soon as that was out of the way Batman spoke to the others seriously.

"We already got our objectives and targets, we should move out now, the longer we delay, the more time the Imperium will have to set their plans in motion. So let's get down to deciding who goes with who. In this case, who will you go with Diana?"

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

There…this chapter is done and the second part will soon be in the production line. This story is still going to be continued as we will be wrapping up the origins arc in three arcs, this being the first of the said arcs. And I have plans of my own to complete this my way. The reason it follows to canon for a bit is that I have to recall what happened in the Justice League series so I will be working on a different direction when I am good and ready.

Once I am done with the Origins chapter, I am off to try other ideas before getting to the other episodes, just to keep my options open.

One of the things I like to point out is that Naruto does not know Batman's real identity as of yet since unlike John-117 and Cortana in my Halo version of said story, Naruto has no access to any government database. That way he has no idea that Bruce and Batman are the same person and the only time he has sensed Bruce's chakra is when Bruce was in Batman disguise. He'll find out eventually but not today so I hope that no one starts thinking that Naruto is going to find out Batman's secrets just like that.

Naruto's reaction to both Shaeyra and Diana is to be expected since both women happen to be drop dead gorgeous. But he had already seen them in action so he knows that they are more than just a pair of beautiful ladies with powers.

His Senjutsu senses and that of Kurama will be able to sense that Diana's own chakra levels are very significant that if she underwent some of the training, even at her age, it would be quite surprising. The unique way of Diana's conception has also been sensed by them and they can tell that the magic used to create Diana is mingled with her own chakra so her type of Chakra is very unique and strong as well.

As for Shaeyra, her chakra type is also different from Diana and the others so he will be curious how she would be like in battle if she could use chakra. And while he might flirt with her a bit, he will be on cordial terms with Shaeyra throughout his time in the League. How will he react when Shaeyra reveals her true mission…well that is up to you to guess or find out but remember that we are talking about Naruto here so things might be a bit different.

…

Naruto's angry reaction to Stewart's comments is something I enjoyed writing a good deal, now I am not against John Stewart since he did have a great run in the comics as the Green Lantern and despite the comments directed at him in his initial debut in the Justice League series, he has risen to be a great member of the League. Eventually they will get along well enough and will also be able to work side by side in battle. And perhaps, Naruto will get John to lighten up in his own fashion. They both have a dislike for authority as well as a straight course of action mindset so that can also help them out.

But this will not be the last time these two will be butting heads either, so I can assure you that they will be shouting again soon.

…

On the soon to come chapters for Origins, Naruto will not yet reveal Kurama in battle so instead he will rely on his already present fighting skills, chakra, Jutsu, experience, and naturally his Senjutsu before using Kurama's power. I do have plans to have Naruto and Kurama only go all out when facing a certain God with a serious love for death and you can bet that the meeting in question is going to be nothing less than explosive. And there WILL be some very interesting results once Kurama reveals himself in conjunction with Naruto in battle with Hades.

Feel free to guess that what is.

And for the record, I will have OC villains for Naruto to deal with, his own Rogues' Gallery as it were, every DC hero's got to have one. And since Naruto is not adverse to killing, you can bet that Naruto'\s enemies will be bit more vicious than the norm. he will tangle with some of the other villains of the other members of the Justice League but not just yet.

…

Truth be told, there was actually a second version of this story idea of having Naruto in the Justice League world. And that was having Naruto appear in the world at the beginning of Justice League Unlimited just as the League expanded to take in more members.

In that version, Naruto was forced to defeat one final Jutsu that could have killed the Shinobi Alliance by Tobi and it was a one way trip. So he would not be able to return to Konoha yet was willing to take the risk to save his people. Once he did so, he would land right in the middle of a mission that forced the still current League to fight together, just before Shaerya leaves. He helps out and after telling them his past would be allowed to stay.

He would be told that they might find a way to send him back but that would take time so he is part of the League for now. And along the way, helps people as he always did. He might even convince both Batman and Wonder Woman to finally date together and be close, who knows after all.

In that second version, Naruto is sixteen or seventeen so he would be around the age of the younger heroes so he might wind up being attracted to the younger female heroes. And I might include Donna Troy along as well to have some extra kick in the story.

I might decide to try that version of Justice League Fire Shadow in the future so I can have some variety. But that is still up for debate if it can be pushed through.

…

Also, I would like to state in advance for the benefit of all, that since Mass Effect is now officially over, I am beginning to design the framework for the two stories I had made in my profile. Naturally that will be a crossover story using Mass Effect with either Marvel or that of the DCAU version of the Justice League.

I know not everyone is the least bit happy with the idea of the endings of the last of the ME trilogy and I too can feel the pain there. But I prefer to use the plot holes for either the Destroy Collectors Ending or the Synthesis Ending for the stories I have in mind, though I am leaning to using the later ending than the former. And that means I plan to bring Shepard back from the dead, and no, not a clone of Shepard, or possibly a son or daughter, but the original Shepard, no one else.

I also plan to have Shepard undergo a number of changes to make up for his resurrection into either world. These changes don't make him super powerful in any sense of the word, but give him a good number of edges. Let's face it, almost all of the heroes in either DC or Marvel have powers so I have to give Shepard something of an edge.

I can't go into specifics but I will say that I will allow Shepard to have a ship like the Normandy and all the gear he had collected since ME2 and ME3. He might also be made into a hybrid with Biotic Powers and possibly have some techno-organic powers to boot since I am leaning towards the Synthesis Ending. Not sure how that might work, but I can say with absolute certainty that he is not going to be immortal, he can be killed like before so don't think that Shepard will be unstoppable.

Though I am curious on who I pair Shepard with on either the Justice League story or in the Marvel story.

I might make a poll on which story in this area goes first.

…

I have also begun the framework for a Naruto/Fairy Tal story requested by a certain member of the site who requested this of me a few weeks ago. I will admit that I did consider the idea prior to him suggesting it, but I decided not to do so earlier since there were some very good ones already in the series. I will be using the framework of my other Naruto fics though I feel like using some changes from my NDC story just for the sake of laughs.

And yes, this story might very well be a harem story though I will have to be selective on who I will pair with Naruto since he will naturally be older now yet still young looking.

…

Another idea buzzing in my brain is a Fallout version of my WOW/Halo story. I will be borrowing some ideas from my character Travis though I will not allow him to use Energy Weapons and stick to the other ways. After all, there IS gunpowder in WOW so I have no doubt doing that is possible and as far as I have seen, the gunsmiths in WOW are inching closer to more advanced guns that just simple musket balls and powder horns.

This should be interesting to say the least though I guess bringing in ED-E can be a serious help since he will have the DLC abilities of his counterpart in Lonesome Road. And with that, at least I can keep the gear working the way it should, and possibly even upgrade the gear that the new character will have. And you can bet that seeing the various races in Azeroth is going make the Courier's adventures there anything but dull. And his technology coupled with the experience present is going to be the key for survival.

…

And as much as I know I am swamped, these ideas are already burying their claws into my noggin and they don't seem all that inclined to go away and that is something I will not be happy about.

But the good news is that I am not going to do any of these full time until I am satisfied with all that I am able to update. Plus I do have some fic orders to fill out for some of our fellow readers that were sent to me to do in private.

See you all soon, and for the record, Naruto Deserted Island will be next to be updated.

Bye!


	6. Chapter 6

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't have any ownership of either Justice League or Naruto, are we clear on that?

Chapter 4

Part 2

Origins…

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

With the heroes…

Diana thought it over and looked at the assembled heroes with Naruto seemingly silent as he decided to let her make her decision. She looked at Naruto who was still wearing his mask and decided to work with the ninja. After all, there were some questions pertaining to him and she was not willing to work with Flash due to her unease at his actions, nor was she sure that working with Green Lantern was a good idea as both of them were not on the best of terms.

She then replied as she knew that the longer they delayed, the quicker the Imperium were going to get to accomplishing their goal.

"I will work with the Hokage."

Flash gave a sigh of disappointment while Naruto, raised an eyebrow behind his mask. Sure he was happy to be with a drop dead gorgeous woman who by all rights be called a divine beauty, but he was not expecting it to happen that early. But who was he complain anyway? They had a lot to deal with and not enough time to do it in. he still had his Senjutsu senses on and already the effects of the factories could be felt. And longer they were left tow rok, then things were going to get a lot harder from here on out.

He placed those thoughts aside for now as he replied.

"I'm all right with that."

Batman decided to work with them, he knew that the Hokage and Diana had a point, even if J'onn had given them information about the invaders, the loss of the nerve gas and any way to replicate it was a serious blow. The factories might hold the key as he too felt that the Hokage's comments about the aliens using factories held water.

"I'll go with both Diana and Hokage, if there is any way to find information on how to beat the aliens without J'onn's nerve gas and the plant samples, I'll need access to a factory and find what I can."

J'onn nodded and replied.

"I shall assist this team as well, I have learned enough of the technology of the Imperium so I can locate it."

It seemed that all was settled until John spoke to them.

"Hold it, you guys happen to make up the largest team around, are you sure that going in that large a group's a good idea?"

Naruto had a very accurate idea on why John would say that, but in his mind, this was about right. This was the usual team composition back home in Konoha. One Jonin sensei, three Genin or at times Chuunin and he was comfortable with the idea. Besides this team looked a lot more promising and he was not in the mood to be trading word barbs with Green Lantern, not with the survival of the world on the line.

"We're ready for it, J'onn's got the first hand knowledge, Batman's got the brains and skills, Diana here is more than ready, and for me, I'm all right with this. Besides, you, me, and Diana are not on very good terms anyway so working with you is not going to be a good idea."

John thought about arguing a bit more but decided not to bother with that for now. He decided to grab Flash despite the red wearing super hero's obvious protests. And Superman as well as Hawkgirl headed off to do their part. Their target was the factory being set up in Metropolis while Flash and Green Lantern directed their attention to the one in Asia, namely in Indonesia.

As soon as the two other teams fanned out, Naruto decided to focus his Senjutsu senses once more and spoke to the others.

"There's another factory in Egypt, though that one's not well set up yet from what I can sense, that might be a good place to start."

Batman raised an eyebrow at that and made his confusion clear.

"How do you know that?"

Naruto chuckled a bit and replied.

"Sorry, but I am not going to say, but I can assure you that I am right on saying that they also are setting up somewhere in the desert area of that nation I just spoke of. Why they aren't moving as fast in Egypt might have something to do with the fact that it's morning over there in Egypt."

Batman looked at his watch briefly and knew that the Hokage was correct since it would already be morning there in Egypt and if the creatures are indeed nocturnal, they would have more slower there than here in the area of Metropolis. This meant that they had to hurry and exploit this before they found a way to block the sun

…

En route to Egypt…

J'onn was currently ahead of the team as his telepathy was able to reach ahead of them to allow him to confirm that Naruto was right. There was indeed a factory located in Egypt, but due to it being in the area where it was already morning, the aliens were not able to set up in time. Naruto was not in the Bat Jet as he was sitting on the wing once more, using his chakra to hold himself in place. Batman did not move too fast as he was still not sure that whatever method Naruto was using would help him in holding on.

In J'onn's case, he was curious on how the Hokage would perform in the mission that was before them. The young man was highly skilled in the Martian's mind and the powers he had already displayed was surprising. There was no doubt in the last Martian's mind that there were a lot of secrets in him, but he knew that it was not his place to go around and ask questions. They had a more serious matter for them to focus on. And that was to prevent the invaders and their leader the Imperium from destroying this world.

As for Diana, she was flying next to the Hokage and while she wanted to speak to him, ask him some questions, she decided that now was not the right time. They had a war to fight and there would be time for such questions later.

…

En route to Indonesia…

Flash was not the least bit happy as he and Green Lantern were on their way to engage the alien forces in Indonesia. He had hoped to be with either Diana and Hawkgirl, but now her was with the man who he felt was a real stick in the mud.

"You are no fun!"

John looked back a bit and sighed as he hoped that this was not going to turn into a shouting match.

"We're not here to have fun! We have to do our job and finish it before all of this goes straight to hell, you got me?"

"Yeah, I get you."

Both heroes moved on with Flash moving over the water without much problems as he was going at full auto.

…

As for Superman and Hawkgirl, they were now reaching the city of Metropolis and there was no doubt that the invasion was really going all out. The factory was already there and Metropolis looked like it was when Darksied and his forces were coming in to invade Earth itself. But they knew that they had to hold on and focus on the job before them.

…

In the deserts of Egypt…

Naruto was currently with Batman and Diana, hiding from the patrolling machines that the enemy had unleashed much earlier to secure the site. Only difference was that the machine seemed to be limiting it's movements. No doubt it was trying to stay close to the alien factory to keep it from being harmed. Diana was not very happy with all the hiding which was something he could understand since when he was young, hiding was not exactly one of his favorite moves.

"Hiding from the enemy is not the way of the Amazons."

Naruto turned and replied as Batman was currently looking at the walker and the factory intently.

"Well you have to get used to it Princess Diana, we're going to need the element of surprise here until we get a clean way in."

It was here that J'onn finally appeared along with a pair of Naruto's released Kage Bunshin and the Marian spoke to the others.

"There is no sign of an entrance that we can use to infiltrate the factory."

Diana decided to make the move as she got her rope and moved forward in flight.

"Then we make our own!"

Bruce was about to go after Diana when Naruto stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him

"I don't think that talking to her is a good idea, she's wanting to blow off some steam so let her or she might take offense. Besides, I need to see what she can do with that golden rope of hers."

Batman decided to watch and see if the blonde was right and sure enough it was a fairly accurate move as Diana proved to be a real power house. The woman took her lasso, while dodging the walker's energy weapon and then came back to rope the thing on one of it's legs, wrap the rope around it, and drag it down hard. Naruto whistled a bit, the strength was pretty much up there, and he briefly was pleased that neither Tsunade or Sakura had that level of strength.

Still, he liked what he saw and it seemed to impress Batman enough that he did not comment further on the matter. The fact that the crashing walker helped in shattering the wall of the factory was a good bonus. Diana turned and spoke out to them as she quickly gave the walker a serious hit that seemed to tear into the armor and the sunlight seemed to cripple it as it's inner self was exposed.

"There! Now we have our opening!"

As he and the others went in to join Diana, they were greeted by the arrival of some of the aliens who fired at them. Diana blocked their attacks with her bracers and soon some of the roof fell off. Diana looked at the aliens as the light of the sun filtered in as the aliens retreated.

That was something that offended Diana since the thought of running away from a battle was a sign of a coward and despite her pacifistic nature, she did not tolerate cowardice. She turned to the others and spoke to them.

"We cannot wait forever, they are retreating like cowards!"

Naruto was quick to notice the sheer terror the aliens had at the beams of sunlight, they might not have anything resembling a face, and they certainly were not human, but Naruto learned enough in his long life to know that fear can be see through physical reaction. He turned to Batman and saw that he too saw the reaction of the aliens and he too was surprised and interested.

Both of them nodded and they were soon following J'onn and Diana as J'onn knew the situation more than the others.

…

In Indonesia, the situation for Flash and Green Lantern went down the wrong way, Flash in a display of eagerness to get the mission done quickly rushed in to attract the attention of the aliens. Much to Green Lantern's annoyance as he tried to stop the speedster from doing something outrageously foolish and foiling the mission. However, it was not long before Flash's actions came back to bite him in his red covered butt as he had stepped on some form of mine that was filled with a gunk that was less then nice to the nose, but enough to stop him cold.

Now Green Lantern had to rescue him as the alien walkers were closing in, intent on either blasting the speedster into oblivion r just plain skewering him.

…

In Metropolis…

Hawkgirl and Superman had some level of good luck as they were finally able to takedown some of the walkers. The Thanagarian was able to use her mace to make sure that the walker could not get up. Superman then used a karate style chop to cut one of the legs and used it as an impromptu javelin to make a hole into the factory and he turned to call to Hawkgirl.

"Hawkgirl, follow me!"

The walked in and Superman told her to keep her eyes open, to which she replied.

"I always do."

It was not long before they came under fire from the aliens and Superman was about to handle it while telling Hawkgirl to stay back before the woman ignored him and charged in. The Kryptonian watched as the winged woman used her charged mace to bash the aliens around with considerable force, forcing him to duck when one flew overhead and was in a mess behind him.

"Whoa."

He turned as Shaeyra spoke while walking ahead to lead the two.

'What? There's a time for words, and a time for action."

Superman knew that there was truth to that statement, but he did not expect to see them taken that literally. But he decided not to comment just yet as they still had a job to do, and he was still new to working with another hero.

…

Back in Indonesia…

Green Lantern was in a foul mood as he had finally freed Flash from most of the gunk that had held him captive and he had managed to do so while getting himself and Flash away from the enemy so he could free the speedster from the rest of the gunk without being shot at by the alien Walkers. He was not happy on how the mission was turning out and there was the chance that they were going to have to pull back soon before things got really difficult.

"Of all the boneheaded and reckless things to do…have you ever heard of the concept of teamwork before in your life?"

"Uh, maybe we should save the motivational speeches for later? Like when we're not being shot at?"

As soon as he was free, the two tried to get back into the fight and while it seemed that they were finally getting somewhere, things took a turn for the worse. The alien walkers tried to take down Lantern's shield, but got nowhere until they fired a pod missile that released a powerful yellow gas that was some sort of tranquilizer drug.

The weakness of the Lantern ring came to play as the gas bypassed the shield and soon drove Green lantern to the ground in an unconscious state.

"GL!"

Flash reached the downed Lantern using his speed to make his arms move the gas away and saw that sticking around as more walkers came at them was a bad idea as he quickly got the unconscious Lantern and high tailed it out of there. Their mission was a bust and now they would have to hope that the others were doing a much better job than they were at the moment.

…

Back in Metropolis…

Superman and Hawkgirl moved deeper into the factory and the Thanagarian was tense, holding her mace close to her and she spoke seriously.

"They're close by…I can almost smell them."

Superman was not too comfortable with the way Shaeyra acted and asked the question that was in his mind after seeing her decimate the aliens. He had worked with aggressive people in the past, but certainly no one this aggressive.

"Are you always this eager to fight?"

Shaeyra turned and replied stoically.

"My home-world Thanagar is a war like world, there it's either you strike first, or you die."

Superman's reply to that was cut short as the aliens came back for more but they retreated, Superman wondered why but got the answer as the tunnel was suddenly sealed in front of him and Hawkgirl and then behind them. They were soon hit by gas, and Hawkgirl was down as she was trying her best to recover from the sudden release of gas in the room.

"Hang on Hawkgirl! I'll….AAAAAAGGGGGG!"

Superman's attempt to rip open the door behind him was cut short when massive amounts of energy were unleashed on him that forced him down, he was still injured and he too was soon overtaken by the gas.

…

Egypt...

The group was moving fast and hard as the Hokage was now taking the lead and was now better at killing the aliens. The chakra that he was feeding into his swords at a higher and more powerful amount helped augment the cutting power of his swords made nearly effortless work on the alien forces as they were being cut down and Naruto's Kage Bunshin which he had sent ahead as recon units fed intelligence on just where to hit, which he then fed to the others and J'onn confirmed his findings from his own prior battle experience.

This was what made them focus on taking out the blonde Hokage as he was soon making himself a serious target. That was a bad move on their part and Naruto made that clear as he would attack them quickly and without hesitation The others were also quick to aid him in the fight now that Naruto had told them just where to hurt them, though that went to both Batman and Diana.

Diana was not standing by as she used her bracers to block the shots of the aliens to render their attacks weaker, but she also did the same thing as before to send the laser bolts right back at the shooters.

Batman was not alone either as he took out a special type of fist weapon that unleashed powerful blasts of electricity that allowed him to damage the ones who he was able to attack while also using special explosive loaded batarangs to attack his own targets. J'onn also used his ability to be come intangible and invisible to ambush the aliens and take them down.

But no matter how many times they fought through the aliens and their ambushes, the aliens continued to move in and attack the group, trying their best to herd the four heroes to a location that would be to their advantage.

Naruto was getting a bit tired and felt himself begin to weaken so he quickly deactivated his current Senjutsu Mode and switched back to using his regular chakra and some of Kurama's own. It helped him recover quickly and soon he was back to full tank, Diana came in and blocked the attacks that were being thrown at the Hokage as well as the others but she was not pleased by the rapid approach of the aliens.

"They've cut us off again!"

"It's like they already know just where we are."

Batman spoke out as he readied a batarang and fired it at the enemy as it's explosive payload forced the aliens to break off and avoid being attacked. Naruto was quick to place one sword on his back and switched to using several explosive tag loaded kunai and shuriken to take out several other aliens while feeding some of his chakra into the weapons and tags to increase their power. He focused a brief amount of his Sage Mode and felt something alien in the structure and replied

"This entire place feels alive in an alien sort of way to me, I don't like it one bit but if the fact that's like a twisted living structure is true, it must sense we're not it's makers, and it's guiding them to us. We need to hurry before we get ourselves way in over our heads."

Diana agreed with the blonde and readied herself to cover the others but she knew that only J'onn could help them as he knew their foes better than they did.

Batman thought the same thing and turned to J'onn…only to find that the Martian was currently still and his eyes were glowing in a strange fashion, confusing Batman briefly until he shouts in order to try and snap the Martian out of whatever it was that was.

"J'onn!"

The glowing in the Martian's eyes faded away and J'onn spoke.

"Superman and Hawkgirl are down, they have failed in their mission."

Batman was surprised at that and so was Diana.

"What?"

"Are you sure about that J'onn?"

"Yes, but they are alive, no doubt the invaders plan to either torture them or feed on them."

The two heroes were disgusted by that and while his face was hidden by his chakra enhanced mask, the Hokage gave a frown as that made him recall the sight of the three scientists in the abandoned lab and he did not like where that was going. He placed such thought aside as more aliens came at them and J'onn led them to another series of tunnels saying that the core was in this direction. Diana and J'onn then moved up another tunnel while he turned and fought off the aliens that came out from another chamber.

He soon followed Batman as Diana covered their retreat as they moved into another room, the Amazon looked behind them and came back.

"We've lost them."

"For the moment we have."

Batman switched to using a pair of knuckles that released high strength voltage for close combat while John took out his M90 for the close quarters bit as J'onn called their attention.

"We're here."

The group turned and there was a cavernous room that had a number of the aliens moving about and using control panels and what appeared to be some sort of chamber holding a large crystal inside what appeared to be some sort of gestation tank.

"This is the central core of the factory."

Batman then spoke to the Martian as he could see that this was going to be the best place to finally take down the factory for good.

"How do we take it down?"

"The crystal there in the chamber is the Ion Matrix Crystal, which is the heart of the factory and also the source where they can create the ion cloud itself. Removing that should shut down the factory and compromise it. I will need a distraction to get the crystal though."

Naruto then moved to his favored Jutsu replied to that.

"Don't worry, one distraction coming up!"

Batman and the Hokage made their moves with the Dark Knight using a batarang to cut a nearby pipe that unleashed a wave of black fluid on the aliens underneath it, the Hokage and his summoned Kage Bunshin tossed out a large barrage of explosive kunai in rapid succession and sent several of the aliens flying while Diana ripped out another cable, causing gas to hit the aliens and the flames from the detonation of the explosive kunai also created a firestorm of destruction that caught the other aliens off guard.

This was enough for J'onn to move in by phasing to the location, while Batman, Naruto and his Kage Bunshin, and Diana were under attack, the Amazon blocked the attacks while Batman came in his usual way and used his taser weapon for the kill. Naruto fought the aliens with both his sword and some of his Wind techniques, namely the same technique he had used in front of Lantern while in a display of acrobatic prowess without his father's specially make kunai of the Hirashin Jutsu going down and supported the Dark Knight from behind. Naruto then used his swords to cut down several aliens who tried to sneak up on Diana and she smiled briefly at him for watching her back.

J'onn reappeared near the crystal chamber now that the distraction was in full effect, he took out the alien nearby and quickly retrieved the crystal. The effects were quick as the factory began to shake and malfunction, but not before he was shot by one of the aliens. The last Martian was sent down to the ground and lost his grip on the crystal.

"J'ONN!"

Diana flew to his location after defeating her foes and when she got there, Batman shouted to her.

"GET HIM OUT! NOW!"

Naruto and Bruce quickly moved to get to the two as Diana lifted J'onn and flew to a nearby tunnel area. Batman quickly used his grappling gun and moved over to get the crystal while the Hokage covered his back by placing aside his sword and firing more of his shuriken and kunai with the explosives on them. However one the aliens quickly accessed the door controls and before the two men could make it, they were sealed in.

Batman used his taser to try to break through while Naruto began to use his Rasengan, but it was not going well, the two turned and saw the aliens coming at them.

"This is not good."

Naruto however was not giving up just yet as he quickly formulated a plan that would get them out of here quickly.

Diana was stunned at the fact that both Batman and the Hokage were not behind them and she rushed back, shouting their names.

"BATMAN! HOKAGE!"

She however stopped as the sounds of laser fire came out and soon silence.

"NO!"

Horror filled her at the fates of the two men and she tried to help them but was stopped by J'onn as he recovered from the injury he got.

"No, there is nothing we can do for them."

"By Athena… you don't mean that they are?"

"Gone…"

J'onn's sad look was heart breaking to Diana as she looked at the door and spoke.

"Hera…help us."

…

Unknown to Diana, the two were not gone just yet as Naruto quickly grabbed Batman who still held the crystal in hand and used the Kawarimi No Jutsu in time, and J'onn had shielded the two from being detected. They would be the key needed to win this war and as long as the enemy thought them dead, then they would have a chance. As soon as he used the technique, he and Batman were now among the aliens and quickly fought back against the aliens to take them down. Apparently the aliens themselves were surprised as they thought that they had killed the two heroes. Only to find them being attacked by the two very quickly.

Batman looked at the group of aliens in surprise, not at the sight of them out cold as it were as he and the Hokage were the cause of the whole thing, but how he and the Hokage had appeared among them, just as it seemed they were about to be shot. He turned and was surprised to see that two of the aliens who had shot at them were now there with burning holes in their bodies, showing that they were the ones who got shot by their own allies. He turned to Naruto and the blonde gave a nod as he decided to give some detail to

"What happened? I did the same trick I did with your female partner when we first met remember? Only in this case, I switched two of the ugly mugs with us so they go shot and not you and me. I used a different item in Batgirl's place when we met since it was the only one around."

"A ninja technique?"

"You got it, but let's hustle, I doubt we're going to be alone for long, hope you hold on to the crystal Batman, cause it's time to get out of here."

The two moved out and soon encountered a few more surviving aliens, that they were quick to dispatch and soon they arrived at a nearby wall. Naruto decided to get them an exit. Since he was still in Sage Mode, he decided to quickly summon a Kage Bunshin as he turned Batman who was a bit surprised by the technique as he now saw himself facing two Hokages who quickly summoned two massive spheres of glowing energy, one of them turned to Batman and spoke to him.

"No time to explain, but enough time to make an exit, move back Batman, it's time to bring the house down!"

Naruto and his Kage Bunshin moved forward and soon smashed the spheres into the nearest wall and the results were explosive. Naruto had decided that if he wanted to counter the aliens with his techniques, he was going to have to pump more power into his attacks. That would normally be difficult for a regular ninja since chakra control was needed, but he had been alive for a while now and his control was way better than when he was younger.

The results of the attack were obvious as sections of the wall were blasted off and large cracks were soon forming all over the structure. It also blasted away any of the aliens who were in the blast zone. The dual Odama Rasengan which was a bit larger now due to the increased amount of chakra made one very big hole to allow the desert air in as well as the sunlight and the two heroes were out of the building, and then they turned, the whole factory went down hard, or at least half of it while the other half suffered considerable structural collapse. It was here that some of the aliens were forced out into the light, they quickly screeched in fear as they sought cover, and the ones who were exposed literally began to have smoke come from their bodies. Naruto had not seen that before and was quick to comment on it.

"Now that's something."

As the two looked at the panicking aliens, Batman was quick to note the reactions of sunlight on the aliens' bodies, he was quick to come up with a viable answer on why was it that the aliens were suffering severely in sunlight.

"They are vulnerable to UV radiation. That must be the other reason why they take great pains to avoid being exposed to the sunlight, and why their factories block out the sunlight one they landed on Earth."

"So I was right in thinking that they were not just nocturnal, so if this thing can make the cloud, perhaps we can make it do the opposite."

"Yes, since the crystal we have is the one that allows them to make that ion particle cloud, reversing it's function should remove the clouds and give us a much better chance."

The Hokage then spoke to Batman as he felt that the Dark Knight .

"Do you think that can be done?"

Batman nodded.

"I have the technology in my lair, but it will take me some time to get the process right."

"Good, I'll join you, once we're done here, we can make our move on the aliens when we have that crystal ready."

…

Back in Metropolis…

The city was in utter pandemonium, as people rushed about the police, fire department, and hospital services were doing their absolute best to keep things in order. But they were fighting a losing battle as the more radical elements in society were taking advantage of the chaos. While the invaders had halted their actions and focused more on securing the area around their factories, they had made sure to send out recon teams every now and then to squash any resistance that the humans could offer them, as annoying as it was due to the technological disparity between them.

The military were doing what they can as well as the police and the SCU, but their weapons were not very effective in fighting the aliens and this was not the same as with the Darksied invasion as the aliens were able to take solid hits quite well though not to the level of super-human strength. And with the riots going off at full swing it was utter chaos as both the military and the police were hard pressed into maintaining order and fighting the invaders.

Diana could not help but feel sickened at the sight of the people breaking down and turning on each other like this. Instead of working together to defend one another and fight the invaders with their military, the people turned on one another, looting, rioting, and more. The ver sight of such actions in this was appalling to the Amazon

She and J'onn had gotten back from the mission in Cairo and she had been saddened by the loss of both Batman and the Hokage, unaware that both of them still lived and that J'onn had secretly used his telepathic powers to shield the two from the enemy.

She found Batman's skills and tenacity as admirable, while the Hokage's strategic skills, fighting prowess, as well as his manners and respect to her were just as admirable. She also was intrigued by the powers he had under his command as they were not in any way the same to magic. How he was able to use those techniques and somehow not be a magic user was a mystery to her

She looked on in disgust as the scene played on before her and spoke.

"I cannot believe that they are like this, maybe my mother was right, mankind is not worth saving."

(I cannot believe that Batman and the Hokage gave their lives to save such people.)

J'onn replied to that.

"Do not judge them harshly, they act out of fear and confusion and do not have the means to fight back or the will to do so."

(I hope that mentally shielding the two will work, they're abilities and skills will be critical in saving this world.)

It was not long before they were joined by both Green Lantern and Flash who had recently helped the police to try and keep order. Green Lantern was naturally the one who spoke.

"Sorry about being late, had to help rescue a number of civilians who were caught in a building with lost structural integrity."

"Why'd you call us back anyhow?"

"Superman and Hawkgirl have been captured and are currently held in that factory over there."

Flash quickly noted the absence of the others and spoke.

"Where are Batman and the Hokage?"

J'onn was silent and Wonder Woman was saddened at the mention of the two men and J'onn replied.

"They fell as heroes."

That shocked Flash and even Green Lantern as they knew that things were getting really bad. However they had little time on their hands to grieve for the two as J'onn told them that the Imperium, the governing intelligence that led the invaders was already on it's way to the planet's surface. They soon broke through the outer defenses and made their way to Superman and Hawkgirl.

But something bothered J'onn at how light the resistance was and his fear proved true as it was a trap. The ones they thought to be Hawkgirl and Superman turned out to be invaders and they were soon knocked out and unable to fight.

…

Outside…

Naruto was quick to leap off the wing of Batman's fighter as the two of them arrived back in Metropolis but this time they moved the fighter a fair distance from the city and soon began to move inside while avoiding patrols. The blonde had pretty much stayed out of the caves seeing that Bruce needed to work and him around was not good. Once they were done, or at least Bruce was done they high tailed back to Metropolis. Naruto quickly turned to Batman as he carried the crystal in his hands as the two of them moved closer to the target factory. But not before Naruto quickly released two Kage Bunshin on the fly and sent them to the back to gather some extra Nature chakra.

"You sure that device with those modifications is going to work?"

"Yes, but we have no time to waste here, this device should be the key to removing the cloud cover that they use for their invasion to finally be a success. But I need to connect it to the crystal to have any effect, namely in the same place we found it from before."

"Then let's go to it, we got to find the others."

"Can you sense them?"

Naruto focused his Senjutsu senses once more and soon managed to locate the others, but the interference of so many of the aliens did not help matters. He focused a bit more and soon got a better reading as he spoke to Batman.

"I can feel them, but the number of aliens there in that factory is really making it a bit challenging. I am also sensing something really bad down there. I can wager a bet whatever it is that I am feeling is not going to be the least bit friendly."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever it is, I can say this much, it's evil, really down to the bone marrow evil."

The two made their way to the factory with Naruto focusing on his Senjutsu senses to locate the others, they kept out of sight as best they could, hoping that the shield was going to be enough until they could get within striking range. The two of them soon spotted the others but could not do anything for them at this time just as the alien impersonating Carter appeared.

…

"Earth's mightiest heroes…welcome."

"So you're finally here, the one who took Carter's place back on Mars when you and your forces woke up."

The alien impersonator was slightly surprised as Superman glared at him and replied.

"Oh, you know who I am now? I am curious who told you that…no matter, you're all too late, this world will fall and soon all of you will feed the Imperium."

The Hokage and the Dark Knight spotted the alien vessel above and spotted what appeared to be some sort of shuttle move away and enter the base itself. There the two spotted the Imperium, it looked like a massive violet jelly fish with black matter inside of it. The blonde Hokage was able to withstand the waves of evil coming from that monstrous thing. It resembled the Zero Tailed demon that he faced when he first met Amaru-chan, along with that demonic entity Moryu when he worked with Shion-chan, and also that monstrous sea water thing that Orochimaru's former ally Amachi had summoned back when he was a kid..

They had a chance to kill this alien right here and now, so they were going to do what they could.

The two heroes turned to see J'onn being tortured by the Imperium but they were close already and Batman readied the explosives he had. And Naruto was quick to take out a Fuuma Shuriken which had a good number of explosive tags stored in the blades. As soon as the weapon was fully extended, both of them looked at one another and silently nodded as they got ready for action as J'onn finally shouted.

"GET READY!"

The second J'onn shouted the two heroes fired their weapons at the shield of the chamber. The combined attacks were enough to finally weaken the shield and soon, the Martian lowered the shield on the two of them and they were revealed to the aliens and the other heroes.

"Whoa! They're alive!"

Flash was relieved while Diana was amazed that they were alive.

"How did they make it back from certain death?"

J'onn was the one to respond to that despite the fact that the Imperium was still trying to tear him to pieces figuratively and literally.

"I shielded them…so they would not be found!"

Batman quickly moved with Naruto going alongside him to cover him, Naruto used a powerful chakra enhanced kick to send the last alien nearby flying aside as the Dark Knight placed the device through the now weakened section of the shield and placed the device on the crystal, activating it. Soon the crystal's red color changed to blue and the fluid inside of the chamber turned blue as well

The Carter doppelganger was shocked and shouted at what was going on and made that clear to the Hokage and Batman.

"What have you done?"

Batman replied in his usual fashion of being stoic and clam before the odds that were there.

"Reversed the ion charge, now this cloud is going to fade away.."

The leader of the aliens quickly shouted two simple orders to it's minions.

"DESTROY THE CRYSTAL! KILL THEM!"

Naruto looked at Bruce and spoke as he knew that he might want to switch to close combat work to buy Bruce time to get the others free..

"You free the others, I'll keep them off your back!"

Batman did not argue as the two of them separated from one another as he quickly used his grappling gun and moved to the others as the newly altered fluid continued to spread through the factory systems.

The Hokage quickly moved and slid down as lasers were fired at him, he evaded the ones that he saw coming as his Sage Mode improved his speed a lot more, coupled with him focusing his chakra into his legs for extra speed and grip. As soon as he was half way, he grabbed the two swords on his back as he leaped down in a graceful spinning flip. The people and aliens in the room heard two loud hisses as Naruto unleashed his blades, but they were glowing deep blue as he unleashed what appeared to large blades of pure air at the aliens below him.

Several were quickly cut down by the wind blades as Naruto landed nimbly on his feet and quickly stood up and faced the alien forces carefully. They readied their weapons and aimed at him with the intent to kill. Naruto decided that now was not the time for words. Now was the time for action as he quickly took out one of his special kunai and made his move.

The Hokage wasted no time and quickly threw the kunai towards his foes, and his target happened to he one of the aliens who was at the back. The kunai flew straight and true to the target, and that was when Naruto used the Hirashin technique. The aliens and the heroes only saw a brief flash of Naruto's blonde hair and his glowing swords before he vanished and the only saw brief flashes of gold and blue in the area where the aliens were. Naruto suddenly appeared above the alien he had targeted with his father's kunai, grabbed the weapon with his free hand and quickly driving a powerful heel kick into the head of the alien.

Naruto quickly moved to attack with the kunai which was soon coated in his chakra to stab into another attacker and spun hard to avoid a nearby alien's laser bolt, the weapon missed him and blasted the one he had stabbed with the kunai. He quickly rushed the alien and slammed a knee on the weapon to force it upwards and he followed up with a powerful spinning back heel kick with chakra in the strike. The attack sent the alien flying as he was sent into several of his fellows. Naruto turned and rolled away as another alien came at him with blades extended to avoid a slash aimed to his neck, he quickly got up slashed with his sword on the side while taking out his other sword to block another attacker, he quickly moved forward and lifted the alien off it's feet and as soon as it hit the floor, Naruto followed up with a stab in the face.

Naruto readied his swords as he was soon shot at by the aliens, but he was not done as his speed was above par now with chakra being fed into the legs for increased speed. He moved as fast as he could and moved to the shooters and flipped over them quickly and landed behind them to cut them down with sweeping arcs with his chakra enhanced blades. He then moved to stab the last one with both and then yanked both blades while flipping backward to avoid being attacked from behind by another alien with morphed hands for attacking. The alien turned to attack Naruto as he landed, but Naruto quickly leaned backwards and then moved to the side while kneeing the alien at the side of it's own body fast and hard to send it away while quickly moving back up to then block another attacker and then pushing him back with great force and launching a palm strike with the Frog Kata to send the alien back.

The blonde Shinobi was able to hold his own for a bit more and soon more of the aliens were down and out as he quickly lashed out with a surprising blast of pure wind on them. The wind struck like a whip of pure force and sent more of the aliens flying backwards. Naruto turned and saw Batman working quickly on freeing them and he was happy for that, some backup right now was certainly more than welcome since he was soon going to run out of Senjutsu energy.

But he placed his exhaustion aside as he needed to focus on the here and now as more of the aliens continued to attack him. He felt his Nature chakra begin to run dry and he quickly felt it being recharged as his last Kage Bunshin gave him the amount it had gathered earlier. He then moved to place one of his swords on his back in the sheath and attacked with one Odama Rasengan that smashed hard into a large bunch of the aliens who were about to shoot at him with their weapons. He managed to avoid the hits and land the attack to send them splattering all over the place and that was that for them as he got ready for the next batch that was on their way to kill him.

Kurama was ecstatic as he looked on and guided his partner, this was by far the best battle he and Naruto had been in for a very long time, and it was really making him feel very pleased. He had not yet been given the chance to join in, but he figured that since Naruto was doing fine on his own thus far, him coming to his aid was not needed yet.

…

Batman looked at the battle as he worked on freeing the others, the Hokage's actions proved to be the key as the aliens did not attack the Dark Knight of Gotham as they were being kept out of the fight by the Hokage and the shield that was on the converted ion crystal stopped the aliens from destroying the crystal. While he was freeing Diana first, he turned to see just what the Hokage's situation was and he could see the blonde Shinobi continue to hold his own and fight in ways that defied the conventional train of thought that one would have when seeing one who was supposed to be rather young.

(He certainly knows how to fight in such a situation, I wonder how it would have been had I been training alongside him back in my younger years.)

The rest of the heroes were also deep in their perceptions of the battle as the Hokage continued to take down more and more of the aliens while J'onn continued to drag the Imperium into the light as it's skin boiled and bubbled, making the leader of the invasion force shout out more and more screams of pain as sunlight ravished it's form.

(How the heck is he moving that fast?)

Flash thought as even he was having a hard time following the Hokage's attacks as the former Hokage of Konoha cut down more and more of the aliens as if they were moving too slowly. Sure he was fast, but he was not that fast in close combat situations where space was at a premium as it were. Plus that trick he did to only allow the others to see his blonde hair and those glowing blades was pretty damn impressive; he himself only saw brief glimpses of it. Whatever technique he was using was damn cool in his book.

(He looks like he's not even struggling to fight, it's almost like he's been doing this for ages.)

Hawkgirl was not lying as she knew how to fight with hand to hand as well as with weapons, and she could see that the man was very well trained in the use of throwing and melee ranged weapons as well, and it was like he had been trained in how to use them for a very long time. That was something she had to respect as she had faced few foes in her time back in the Southern States who could come anywhere close to what she was seeing before her this moment.

(This guy certainly is anything but a kid, I've seen a lot but this is certainly something else.)

Lantern thought as he had never seen anything like this before in his career both as a Marine and as a Green Lantern. The way the guy moved and fought was too powerful and precise to be human, yet too fluid and natural to be a machine. He could be a cyborg but most cyborgs like Metallo were not as fast or powerful as this guy. And there was no way that any cyborg he knew of could have powers like that.

(This Hokage seems to really fight like a season professional, who is he and who trained him to fight this well?)

Superman watched the way the Hokage moved, and he could hear the man's heart beat and breathing, the man was breathing like anyone would in a fight yet he seemed to be relaxed as well, there was no panic or any of the usual signs. This man was fighting like he had been doing this all his life, like it was as simple as breathing and eating to him. What sort of battles did this man of if it was even a man fight in to be this skilled? He was no pushover, but there was a precision in the Hokage's way of fighting that made him seem more of a brawler than a seasoned fighter which to him was certainly new.

(By all the Goddesses and Gods who reside on Olympus! This man fights like he was born to fight…he and his fellow ninja must be truly skilled fighters to have reached that level. And that power he shows, Mala sensed it and so have I, where is he drawing such power?)

Diana was impressed by the way the man fought, smooth, efficient, effective, and deadly, it was like a dance of battle before her. She had been trained by all the best trainers in the arts of war on Themyscira, yet this man fought like fighting was bred into his body and blood. She was very much amazed by his skills and that was something as she was an Amazon and had been taught by the best. Whoever trained him must be very powerful and experienced and she hoped to meet the Hokage's teacher's someday

…

The reversed ion charge was now in effect as the factory unleashed beams of light out into the sky as the clouds that held the world under a cloak of darkness began to move away and reveal the sunlight once more. The end results were there as the aliens quickly sought cover and those currently fighting the Hokage pulled back, allowing him to use his shuriken and kunai in conjunction with his swords, J'onn also managed to free himself from the Imperium's grasp and drag the creature into the daylight.

The alien screamed in pain as the Martian taunted him while holding it's tentacles which had originally been in his own body.

"You hide underground and shun the light! Why? Does it burn your pale putrid skin?"

The alien screamed in pain as boils and steam came out from the alien leader as more sunlight fell on it, much to Flash' disgust as he spoke.

"Now that is a major case of super strong sunburn!"

It was not long before the heroes were able get into the fight, Superman managed to get a charge from the sun of earth and used his heat vision to free himself and he quickly tore off a large section of the floor and raised it as a shield to allow Bruce to do his work and he held it up. Just as Batman finally Diana, Superman freed Hawkgirl with his heat vision as well, she in turn freed Green Lantern, with her mace Diana then freed Flash as the Speedster was now on the move to attack the aliens as well.

The other heroes joined in as Hawkgirl used her mace, Flash his speed, Diana her strength, and superman his own strength and heat vision that tore apart sections of the building to expose the creatures to sunlight.

Naruto spotted three other aliens moving to attack Stewart and he quickly pulled out a spare yet smaller Fuuma Shuriken from his weapons pack, quickly expanded it and shouted to the Green Lantern

"GET DOWN!"

Stewart did just that out of reflex and saw the weapon sail over his head and slice into the heads of two of the aliens and allowing him to unleash a powerful burst of his Ring's energy in the shape of a wall shield and quickly used said shield like a battering ram t send them back into the wall face. He turned and nodded to Naruto as John quickly went back into the fight as he blocked another barrage of attacks and cut down the incoming threats.

The Hokage turned when his danger senses warned him of an incoming attack, only to see the Diana in front of him using her bracelets to block their attacks and send them right back at their shooters, the Amazon Princess turned and spoke with a slight smile.

"Now we are even."

Naruto quickly fired several of his kunai that were chakra infused yet again while Diana, Superman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern took to the skies, ripping out holes on the building and ripping off sections of the walls to expose the rest of the aliens to the sunlight. It was here that the Imperium managed to free itself from the pain of the sunlight by shocking J'onn into releasing him and he escaped, leaving the Carter double to die along with the others.

…

Diana spotted that and used her lasso to hold the ship down and keep the leader of the invaders from escaping, Superman was able to defend J'onn alongside the Hokage who used his Wind techniques and his throwing weapons which were chakra enhanced and loaded with explosive tags to do the most damage alongside the Kryptonian's use of heat vision in battle. But the alien ship fired a beam at Diana, forcing the Amazon to block it and allow the aliens to escape.

Hawkgirl however came on the scene and used her mace to stop the ship, allowing the fully recovered Amazon to catch the rope once more to prevent the Imperium from escaping just as a doorway was revealed from the alien mother-ship. Diana yanked hard on the lasso and dragged the being back just as the Hokage came up to the plate and took out his father's kunai once more and aimed at the ship just as Hawkgirl began to attack once more.

The Hokage fired the weapon and it allowed him to move close to the alien ship to make him smash an Odama Rasengan quickly into the ship's hull which caused considerable damage to the vehicle just as Hawkgirl's next strike was the final deathblow as Naruto quickly took out the kunai again and went back to the factory. The Imperium screamed in fury as it's vessel was sent smashing into the factory and nearly crushing Batman but Flash saves the Dark Knight at the last moment.

The factory was about to blow and the heroes went to work saving the people trapped inside the same pods the aliens used, with Green lantern carrying them in a bubble while the others flew out of the now destroyed factory. The cloud cover was gone and it seemed that light was filling Metropolis once more. However the alien vessel was now trying to escape no doubt abandoning it's fellows and hoping to avoid facing the fate that claimed it's leader.

Diana was angry at this and spoke out.

"Those cowards are fleeing!"

The idea of letting these aliens escaper without a fight was a big insult to her, after knowing what these aliens did to other worlds, including J'onn's own world she was not going to let them escape without being punished for their crimes.

Naruto however was not going to let the aliens escape without a fight. He knew that he was going to have to go all out and he hoped that he still had the chakra he needed for what he was going to do. He focused to gathering his Senjutsu chakra and as soon as he gathered enough, he then dug deep into himself to get the aid of Kurama for what he was about to do. He had done something like this before when he faced Nagato and Konan but at the time Kurama and him were not exactly in the best of terms.

Now however, he and Kurama were on the same page as Kurama spoke to him.

(("I know what you are up to Naruto, let's do this."))

(Right, I just hope that we do this right.)

The others turned in surprise when Naruto suddenly leaped forward to the nearest building and then summoned another set of Kage Bunshin, four in number, two began to move their hands to create what appeared to be similar to that same technique he had used in conjunction with Diana and Hawkgirl. The other two seemed to be sitting down and did not do much at all. But it was here that they noted a deep orange field of energy that came from him, it was faint but it was there as well, and the energy looked alive.

"By Hera…"

Diana spoke out as she could feel a level of power coming from the Hokage and she could feel the same energy, only this time, there was a lot of it as well and the others looked on as they tried to figure out what he was doing.

Naruto pumped more chakra into the sphere, this by far was going to be a LARGEST Rasenshuriken he was going to make in his life. If it had not been for his mastery of the Sage Mode, his literal decades of experience, and his alliance with Kurama, this move would have been downright crazy and suicidal. Already the sphere took to the size of a massive boulder, and soon the sphere was surrounded by wind. The sound was piercing and all the other heroes had to cover their ears as the sound was enough to make it sound like a host of human sized screaming bats coming out of hell. Hawkgirl was quick to cover her ears the most, not an easy feat with a mace in her hands.

"How the heck is he doing that?"

Green Lantern was stunned as he looked to see the sphere appear, the massive Rasenshuriken was like a literal spiral of screaming blade shaped wind. One of the copies of the Hokage who had been sitting down then disappeared in a puff of smoke and the sphere became even larger. The second one quickly got one of his special kunai and gave it to Superman and spoke.

"Fire this at the ship Superman!"

Superman decided not to argue and do as Naruto instructed, and as he did so, the second Kage Bunshin disappeared in the same manner as before and to their surprise, the two Kage Bunshin and the real Naruto vanished, only for the group to see Naruto actually appear above the alien vessel. The distance was high but Superman saw it with his telescopic vision and he was stunned to see that Naruto was now on top of the alien ship while in mid air.

…

Naruto focused all of his gathered Nature chakra and Kurama's purified power into the Rasenshuriken once more, increasing the size to that of being close to half of Gamabunta's form. He had already managed to get the kunai in mid flight just by sheer luck and now he was going to unleash the combination Jutsu, he had NEVER done this before, but if there was one thing he knew, his life was a compilation of events that had him ding things no one would dare dream of doing The other Kage Bunshin each then moved away and soon the chakra he had taken from Kurama in the past was now keeping the Rasenshuriken stable while the other Kage Bunshin then did the hand seals and soon unleashed a technique he picked up from Itachi and with his partner's chakra and his Sage chakra in the mix, the4 Jutsu was going to be impressive.

"KAITON! GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

The two massive fireballs were unleashed in that moment just as the two Kage Bunshin disappeared in clouds of smoke as the real one tossed the Rasenshuriken. Naruto watched as his Rasenshuriken soon merged with both of the Gokakyu No Jutsu fireballs and soon formed into one massive fireball with firely wind blades spinning around it. If that was not an impressive sight, he had no idea what was an impressive sight.

The massive attack smashed hard into the ship as it was about to get out of the city and smashed on the middle of the ship, and just above the area where the engines would be. The sheer impact of the combined attack was spectacular as a veritable fire storm of destruction began to consume the ship's area. The sheer amount of chakra Naruto put into the attack was a feat no one in Konoha would ever see and if they did, it would reinforce their faith in him as the finest Hokage the village ever had.

The attack tore into the armor of the ship and also caused a large amount of destruction and inside the ship, the aliens were running in pain and shock at the attack. More sections of the ship were being torn apart by the combined Wind and Fire chakra as it spread fast as the normal Rasenshuriken would have done in battle with regular foes. Any alien caught were torn to shreds and soon the ship soon exploded into two pieces. The fiery remains of the alien ship thankfully did not crash into the city of Metropolis.

Naruto however was really tired and began to lose his focus to save himself quickly, thankfully he was not alone as he was soon caught by both Diana and Superman. He looked at the two heroes and gave them a nod as he spoke with relief in his voice.

"Thanks for the assist, that move really took a lot out of me."

Superman nodded at that as he looked at the now crippled ruins of the alien ship.

"I can bet it did, but at least we can deal with them and make sure that they can no longer harm anyone."

Diana nodded at that and spoke.

"You have amazing power Hokage, I have never met many people who can control that level of power outside of Themyscira. Are you sure you are not a demigod by any chance?"

Naruto laughed a bit at that as he had read up on that term when he heard of it and was curious what it actually meant since he planned to try adding it to his books. And while his ego was enjoying the idea of being called the child of a Divine being and a human, he was far too old for such a term being used on him and replied.

"Nope, my parents were both human Diana, but I am really going to need to rest, I am burned out for now and I can really go for some ACTUAL and AUTHENTIC ramen, none of that instant ramen for a while I've had too many of those."

Diana had no idea what that was but Superman did and laughed a bit as he replied.

"I know a good place you might find here, hopefully it's not too ruined, but we still have deal with the others of the Imperium."

"Yeah…darn it, no rest for the heroes, let's get this over and done with."

…

It was days later after the heroes forced the Imperium back and they were now working out on removing the last remains of the aliens that were left behind. It was a great sign of relief to the people, but not everyone was happy with the situation. The military were talking about how they were all lucky, but they cannot let this happen again. They needed some way to make sure that if it were to happen again, then they would be ready for battle.

In the Batcave in Gotham, Bruce himself thought it over and decided to that now was the time to use something that he had been working on months before. The original purpose of the item in question was for space exploration and also for observation. But now the purpose was changed for defense of Earth.

…

In a massive space station above the Earth…

Superman could not help but feel a bit amazed by the looks of earth while he and Bruce were in the Watch Tower. He knew that Bruce had his hands on a lot of things, and had the money, manpower, resources, technology, and knowhow, but this was certainly up there in the list.

"Impressive, are you sure that your stockholders don't know about this Bruce?"

Batman merely nodded and replied.

"It's a bit of a line item in the Waynetech aerospace R&D budget so it's strictly off the books for the duration. So in answer to that, no it's not in the knowledge of anyone in the company, and I've already begun the paperwork on how to have this be given as a donation by Bruce Wayne to the cause of defending the Earth. This can serve as an early warning system area and also as a base of operations for all of us if we need to work in unison to help keep the world safe."

The two turned as both Flash and the newly codenamed Diana were walking towards them with Styrofoam cups in hand as the speedster spoke in a very amused voice.

"And it's got very well stocked kitchen, which by the way is wicked, Iced Mocha by any chance big guy?"

Superman sighed a bit and shook his head with a smile, as he took energy from the sun he had no need to eat or drink, but he did like food. But he had a lot on his mind and food was not one of those things.

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself."

As for Diana she was still getting used to the taste of Mocha on her tongue, she found it to be a totally new and different experience as she spoke.

"Mmmm, we don't have these in Themyscira."

Flash grinned and replied to that.

"Stick with me Princess, there's a lot more you have to see."

"Perhaps I will."

Flash grinned at that and the two other heroes in the room were also somewhat thankful. They were soon joined by Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl, the former Marine then spoke to the two heroes.

"This is an impressive installation. Very impressive, but I get the feeling that there is more to this than just showing off this place."

Superman nodded at that and looked at Earth and as soon as he gathered his thoughts, he spoke to them.

"I once thought that I could handle defending the Earth by myself, but I was wrong, working together we saved the planet and more. That's why instead of working separately we can work together as a team to become a force that can help ensure that the ideals of justice and peace are better protected."

Flash was amused and walked over to the Kryptonian and spoke.

"Work together, like a bunch of Super Friends? No offense or anything, but that kind of sounds a bit odd to me and a bit too cheesy."

Superman smirked a bit at the humor there and replied.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a Justice League, it might not be as catchy, but the goal and purpose is still worth it in my book."

Flash smiled even more and replied.

"You have any idea how corny that sounds, even worse than the Super Friends bit?"

He however then turned to face the others in the station and spoke.

"But I think big guy here has a point, working together is a lot more effective and with all of us behind, it can definitely be a good thing. Plus combining powers can be a serious advantage in a fight with the more powerful guys we are going to deal with soon Count me in then."

Flash placed his hand on Superman's own as Green Lantern and Hawkgirl did the same thing with the Green Lantern placing his hand over Flash's own while Hawkgirl does the same thing with the two of them showing their willingness to give this idea a chance. They knew that if they were going to deal with problems like this in the future, working together was better than going it alone, or even in pairs

"I'm in, not too sure about this but working together can really be a big boost in all counts."

"So am I."

Diana looked a bit conflicted as she thought about what she was getting into. She had gone from her home to help man's world, and not it was over so she had nothing holding her back in going home. But the things she had seen in man's world told her to stay for a while longer, and perhaps she could tell her mother what she had seen and what she had experienced in Man's world. She then decided to stay and then spoke.

"My mother would not approve of this, but Man's world is very interesting to me, very well, I am in."

The Amazon Princess placed her hand on Hawkgirl's own and then they turned to Batman who was looking at the whole thing while being apart from them with Superman spoke to the Dark Knight.

"What about you Batman?"

Bruce replied in his own fashion.

"I'm not much of a people person, but if you need me, and no doubt you will, call me."

"I understand."

"Hold up, where's J'onn?"

They found the Martian looking at a console where the image of Mars was, the alien retained his calm façade but Superman could see that the Martian was not the least bit calm and he could understand just why the Martian looked that way to his now devastated home-world.

"J'onn?"

"Mars is dead and gone now…and I am the last of my kind anywhere."

"J'onn, I know that none of us can take the place of your family at all, but we would be honored if you were to call Earth home."

The Martian looked at the Kryptonian and smiled as they shook their hands, and as they came back to join the others,

That was when Flash noted something was missing in this situation, or rather someone.

"Hold up, what about the Hokage? He helped out didn't he?"

Green Lantern nodded a bit and while he was not keen on the idea of having the blonde in the group, he had to admit having him in the group was a very good idea since he had a lot to offer the team.

He was not alone as Diana spoke as well.

"Yes, his abilities and skills speak highly of him, it would be a shame to not allow him to be part of the League. I agree with Flash that he helped out in fighting the Imperium so he too should join."

Hawkgirl then spoke.

"but he left as soon as it was over, and it might be a while since Los Angeles is a big city, and none of us I think have been there before."

Superman however smiled a bit and replied.

"I don't think looking for him is the key, all we have to do is be there, he will be the one to find us."

…

In the outskirts of L.A…

Naruto was tired and decided to remove his mask and get some much needed sleep, the battles had been demanding and he was relieved that Los Angeles was not hit by the Imperium. Had they managed to get more of their factories all over the planet, then the battle would have been a lot more difficult for him and the other heroes as well as tiring to the bones.

Once the last traces of the aliens were gone, the blonde decided to go when the getting was good. It might not be night time here in L.A as it was still mid afternoon, but he was really in the mood to sleep and call it a day, there was no doubt the cops had the city covered so no sense for him to go around for the night.

His base or rather current base was actually a soon to be demolished apartment condo that he had been able to take residence in and use as his base of operations when he decided to live mobile. Just like his temporary base in Gotham when he visited there, he had only to clean up the place, reconnect the place's water supply temporarily, and then make sure to only come in late at night and he only relied on some portable gear to make his life easier while on the highest floor of the apartment. The gear in question included a portable heater for cooking food some cooking utensils, electrical lamps for lighting, a portable TV with a portable power supply with satellite dish for cable connection, a radio with CD player, a portable ice box for drinks and water, a small portable electric fan, and finally a sleeping bed and some pillows.

All of which he carried in sealing scrolls so there was no way to trace any use of power. He also made sure to use the water only in the early morning and late in night to make sure that he did not take too much water to raise an alarm and shut it down when he did not need to use it.

So if it ever came to a point that this place was going to be broken down by the city government, he could just pack up and leave, leaving not a single trace for the people to find him. So far no one had found him yet in his place and he was happy for that. He looked at the pot filled with some sliced beef in water and herbs that was going to make a good soup to eat. Most people would have considered his living conditions bad, but he was not the least bit bothered by that.

Once he was done cooking his food, he decided to eat his meal and go grab some shut eye, but not before making sure to have his place lined up with warning tags and traps to get his attention. He might be living on the tenth floor, but no sense not getting ready for anything or anyone. He sat down and began eat straight from the pot and enjoyed the taste of food in his stomach, he also cracked open his ice box and get one of the drinks he had bought, namely a fruit drink which was melon.

As he ate and drank, he felt his body begin to heal better and he thought to himself.

(Man…what a long week this has been, but it was certainly worth it.)

(("Hmph, you still didn't ask to spar with that Superman guy, it should have been fun now that this whole alien invasion thing is over done with."))

(Not now Kurama, I am in the mood to rest and take a long breather before Carolyn decides to make my life hell again for not telling her where I was, am I fine, and when am I coming back to work. You have any ideas how many emails I got from her demanding I answer her? And if she did not get an answer soon she would fire my ass The woman's a slave driver sometimes.)

(("Heh, maybe she is, but at least you like her, the very attractive editor who happens to be willing to publish all that crazy Icha Icha books of yours, and that biographical novel of yours as well. Plus you and her have a very dynamic relationship, she might say she is older than you but if she knew how old you actually were…"))

(I suppose so, anyway, that can wait, for now, it's time for some food.)

(("Yeah right, I still remember the time you gave her that copy of your first book and she looked at you as if you had lost your mind. Then she decided to see if you knew what you were writing, and well, we both know what happened. If she had any idea that you were older than her, then she might have realized the reason that you said what you said."))

(Oh that one I said about being the real cradle robber in the room? I got to agree on that one, not exactly the kind of words one said to a prospective boss.)

(("Hmph! Be thankful she was willing to put you to the test and LIKED what she had seen and experienced, she also not in the mood to be married yet, and she's all right with the idea of hooking up with you without any demands and strings attached. Though that choice she made might change in the times to come since you gave her a very interesting demonstration of your prowess, and not in the terms of writing either. For all you know, she might be willing to let you have some time with Catwoman and Poison Ivy if you be EXTRA nice to her"))

Naruto chuckled at that and had to agree with Kurama's statement, but just as he was dusting off his meal for the day, his Senjutsu senses were quick to pick up several signatures, and it was obvious to him who those people were. And it was also obvious to Kurama as the demon fox spoke in a slightly amused tone.

(("Well now, it seems we have company."))

(What on Earth are they doing here?)

Kurama chuckled at the confusion of his partner and replied.

(("Maybe they have something to talk to you about Naruto, why not go and meet up with them to find out what's on their mind?"))

Naruto sighed as he decided to go out of the place he called home and moved to the roof f the building and decided to mentally allow himself to be detected so that they could find him. It was not long before he spotted one massive looking plane but his Senjutsu senses told him that it was Batman who was flying it so he relaxed as it was coming in. And he did not have to look hard to see that Hawkgirl, J'onn, Superman, Diana, and Green Lantern were now coming in. Batman apparently moved to land his plane elsewhere as the other heroes moved to meet him.

But just as the heroes went to him, there were explosions, the sounds of shouting, and a lot of moving about in the apartment complex. For a moment, the whole team of heroes panicked but noted that Naruto was not panicking and he told them why. Naruto already noted that Flash was not with them so he might have taken the more direct route…right into his traps.

"Don't worry, it's just Flash stumbling through my alarm system, he should be here right about…"

And sure enough, Flash appeared from the door and was covered in soot, coughing, some small tears here and there, plus smudges on his face. Naruto tried not to laugh at the look of the speedster since doing that was not the best of ideas but he did give a teasing comment.

"…now. Had an interesting trip in my maze Flash?"

The speedster glared a bit and replied as he dusted himself off and spoke.

"What the heck was that?"

"My traps and alarms just in case I got unexpected visitors, and don't worry, the explosions were not that powerful and were designed to disorient people, not outright kill them. Though you had ruined my place so moving again is going to be needed. Not to mention I have to work on getting all the materials I need to replace the traps you messed up."

"I didn't see a single trap down there, what sort of traps do you use anyway?"

"Not the kind you're familiar with, but I am a ninja so my traps don't exactly count as the ones you normally see. You're darn lucky that you did not try that run though some of the trap loaded places I've been to, usually the traps in said places were LESS than gentle. You guys caught me when I was having a nice meal so I guess I should invite you all in, but mind you, this place ain't exactly the kind anyone could consider roomy."

…

In his home…

And the League found out Naruto was not kidding in the slightest, he lived in an abandoned building and was the kind one would consider condemned and soon to be destroyed. The idea of someone like the Hokage living in squalor was something that none of them were expecting.

Diana could not help but be appalled at the living conditions of the Hokage as they went into his apartment as he called it. She had hoped to find him living in a more comfortable setting, nothing like this, and while it was clean, it was certainly not a place one lived in. She made that obvious as she spoke to Naruto who was wearing his mask.

"How can you live like this Hokage?"

The same was in the minds of the others; even Flash had to admit that he was surprised at how…minimalist Naruto's place was. That was after Flash managed to avoid the traps the blonde had set up at the lower floors, all of which involved flash bombs, smoke bombs, senbon launchers, and some explosive tags that were not that powerful. Naruto shrugged and replied to that as he expected such comments.

"This place is only a temporary residence Diana, I plan to leave this place soon enough and find myself a new place to call home since this one's about to be destroyed anyway by the city government so they do the erasure of my residence for me. And there are some advantages to living off the grid after all."

"What exactly do you mean by that term 'living off the grid'?"

"It means that I don't show up when people try to look for me, I don't pay taxes, I don't have a permanent address, I don't have anything to trace back to me, and because of that, I can't be pinned down by anyone easily just in case the bad guys decide to look for me. Unless they decided to just go all out and then start tearing into the city building by building looking for me, which of course is bad for them in more ways than one. Plus they don't know what I look like since I always disguise myself. I pretty much live like a shadow, here one second, and gone the next. It's not pretty but it helps keep me away from prying eyes, namely the ones who happen to want to put my head on the proverbial platter. Though the only reason I decided to reveal myself is that I worked with you guys before and I figured you were all looking for me so why make it harder?"

Naruto then decided to sit down on the nearby chair next to the table that was left behind by the previous residents who decided to just buy a new set and replied with a smirk behind his mask.

"So, what brings you all here?"

Superman looked around and replied a bit once he had taken in a lot of details of the place, and he had no doubt that Batman had done the same thing.

"We came here to ask if you wish to join us, but I have to ask something, I noted all the stuff you have and I can tell that you did not steal this since these items look too well cared for to be owned by someone for a long time so that means you bought them. My question is how did you buy those while living in a place like this? You don't sell yourself out as an assassin when you're not helping people do you?"

The others were a bit worried about that, they had already seen him in action and his confession about being a killer before was still fresh in their minds. Naruto laughed a bit at that and replied honestly to them.

"Nope, I may be a ninja, but I don't go around killing people for money, if it was for bounties for wanted felons and crooks that the government want caught I would try taking them alive but I don't take bounty jobs unless I have to. Plus they don't pay as much though I am interested in the FBI's Most Wanted List. And you already know that I don't kill unless I have to Superman so don't worry about it. Let's just say that I earn most of my money through what I write."

That surprised Batman a bit and he made that obvious to Naruto.

"You write stories?"

"Yep and that's all I have to say, I am entitled to some secrets about myself after all. Let's just say that you'd be surprised on what you can make as a writer if you know a good story and have the imagination to go with it. And I usually happen to be very busy when I am not helping the police so I pretty much do what I can. And just before you ask, no I will not say who my editor is since there is a thing about confidentiality, all I can say is that I get paid well enough to be able to live on my own though I prefer the nomadic lifestyle for both personal and practical reasons. Anyhow, what's this you wanted to tell me about again?"

Superman decided to answer that question first.

"We wanted to ask you about joining us in forming a team to help protect Earth, I can show you the place we can operate from if you have the time?"

Naruto thought it over and nodded.

"All right then, give me a second to pack up my stuff, I always take these along wherever I go anyway. Plus afterwards I can get some much needed shut eye, since I am dying to get some sleep."

The other heroes watched as Naruto gathered his things together and then placed them on an opened scroll with some rather weird writing. Batman could see that it was Japanese in some form or another, but he did not know the dialect. And the others wondered just what the scroll was for and why the Hokage was placing his things there. They got their answer when Naruto placed his fingers in a position and then in a puff of smoke, everything on the scroll vanished.

Flash was the one to sum up the thoughts of the others as they saw that.

"Whoa! What the heck was that?"

Naruto grinned a bit as he wrapped up the scroll and tied it up and replied as he placed the scroll away into his pouch.

"That was a storage technique and this is a storage scroll, I can't really get into specifics on both technique and scroll as it is a secret I have no plans on revealing. But I can say that I just sealed the things I need all in this scroll for easy transport. I carry all I need in these scrolls and only I can unseal them and use them again. They don't weigh me down either so no need to hire anyone to haul my stuff around, less likely that I leave a trail behind anyway."

John whistled as he replied.

"Got to admit, that's pretty darn handy."

Diana herself nodded as well, the technique was surprising and interesting to the Amazon princess as she had never seen a technique like that before.

"I agree, I have never seen magic like that before, even on Themyscira."

The other heroes were also intrigued, sure there was technology that could store away large numbers of items away and even some magic, but the Hokage's way was not in either realm and different all together. Batman had to admit that he had heard about some form of storage techniques in his ninja training days but they were usually myths used by ninja to mislead their foes. This was the real thing as there was no way all of the gear could be carried by one person without being weighed down or seen carrying too much.

Superman had heard of such technology and had seen it himself, as well as some magic, so he was not too surprised, but since there was no sign of magical energy and incantation, this was new.

Naruto laughed gently at that.

"Yep and it compliments my nomadic life style pretty well, all I have to do is buy food, drink, fuel and clothes, store them away and off I go. I can store a lot in these scrolls too, but not that many and certainly nothing the size of a house. So where do we go from here now that I am all packed and ready to go?"

…

On the way to the Watchtower, Naruto was like a kid looking at the world's largest merry go round as the Javelin took it's trip to space, He had never been up here before and already he was awed at the sight of the planet Earth as they moved away from it and headed to the Watchtower. He was already old and had seen much in his life, but seeing a world from the view point of space was a treat to him, and seeing the sun and moon the way he was now was worth it.

If his wives were still alive or any of his friends were alive and with him, he wondered what their reaction would be.

The other heroes however were utterly curious on why Naruto was acting like he was a real teenager. They noted his attitude shift when the Javelin finally broke free from the atmosphere of Earth and how he was trying his best to get used to what he was seeing before him. Most of them had been in space before, and Bruce had been able to go to space when he had the Watchtower build years ago, Superman obviously had traveled to space before for a number of reasons, John had been out for fifteen years in space as Green Lantern, Hawkgirl had been fighting on other places before as a secret member of Thanagar's military, and J'onn had been naturally an alien being so being in space was nothing new.

As for Flash, he had been able to see space before so he was not all that impressed though being on the Javelin and the Watchtower was a close second.

The only ones who were awed by all this were naturally Diana and Naruto, the former who was still impressed by the sights even after being in the Watchtower for a while and sampling some of the things that Man's world has, and the latter had never been in space before since his world's technology was nowhere near this level.

Naruto turned to look at the Watchtower and whistled a bit at the sight while looking wide eyed as John decided to rub it in.

"For a guy who said he was older than most, you're acting like a kid seeing his first live zoo."

Naruto laughed a bit at that and replied.

"I am older than most, but this is all new to me."

…

Later…

Naruto was now in the very same room that the newly formed League had been made and he was still awed by the facilities here in the space station. He was not kidding when he spoke to Lantern as he had NEVER been in space and in a place like this. He was dying to explore every nook and cranny of the place but decided to save that for a better time. Now here he was, facing the other members of the League and Superman explained what he had envisioned in the formation of the League.

Naruto listened and he had to admit that it was pretty interesting, in a slightly skewered way, it sounded like he was joining a more…heroic version of Akatsuki. The group of S-Ranked Ninja had been used as an outside force by other villages on occasion and eventually they were the Shinobi Alliance's worst enemies alongside Madara, Sasuke and Kabuto. He had no love for most of the members of Akatsuki with the marked exception of Itachi Uchiha and Nagato due to them being mercenary ninjas for the fact that they had been hunting him and the others for years. He was not the least bit disappointed to send them all into the grave after hunting down and killing Kabuto.

The League was similar but they all were also protecting their own cities and came together to help defend the Earth better from all threats that might appear and support one another. This did not sound all that bad in his mind and being asked to join was surprising to him in every sense of the word.

As soon as Superman was done explaining the whole idea of the League and what it would be doing, he looked at the assembled heroes and he decided to say what he felt was needed to be said.

"I'm not all that sure having me around is the best of ideas. Don't get me wrong or anything, the idea of the League sounds very promising. But I have killed before as you already know and I am not adverse to the idea when the enemy becomes too unreasonable. You sure you want me on the team?"

Flash replied to that.

"Hey man, you rocked in that battle, plus you are pretty much all right, despite the fact that your little gauntlet of traps tried to turn me into a pin cushion."

Naruto chuckled a bit behind his mask and replied.

"Sorry about that Flash, why you decided to take the front door, I'll never know. Anyway, back to topic, are you guys sure about this? I mean Lantern might object to that won't he since we were not on the best of terms?"

"I might, but seeing as we are going to need all the hands we can get in this League, I can't exactly argue."

Naruto thought it over a bit more and Kurama decided to speak to his partner.

(("I think it's a worthwhile run, at least you won't have t worry about what might happen when the meta-human criminals might start appearing on your little city of Angels. Plus being on their side is pretty much a good thing since they are all right enough. Besides, at least you get to be around those two ladies a lot more. So at least you don't have to waste time imagining doing things with them"))

(Kurama, shut it.)

(("Quit pretending man, you know I am telling the truth, but I think that we should at least tell them about a few things, I can bet that Superman deserves to know just how you figured out his identity, that way he can relax more. Or you can do that and then reveal the whole story"))

(Does that include telling them about you and how we got here?)

(("That's your call old man, not mine, and you know already the dangers of revealing secrets and the relief that some can get from revealing secrets. Knowing you however, you might be able to turn them around with the truth and how you present yourself."))

(Okay, I guess I might as well start by revealing just how I figured out who he was without saying anything.)

"All right, but before I give my answer to whether I join this League or not, I think that I should be a bit more truthful about some things about myself, one such thing includes a question that I think is on the mind of Superman for some time."

Superman raised an eyebrow at that and he guessed just what Naruto was getting at as the blonde confirmed his suspicions.

"You want to know how I knew about your most guarded secret right Superman?"

"Yes, I had wanted to ask you that but since you haven't revealed it to anyone I can guess you are a man of your word. But why are you telling it now?"

"Not all of it actually I am only going to focus on just the important details on my side of the story. I am not going to break my promise to you after all and I am a person who values promises. Anyway, when I first came to Metropolis I had used a special Jutsu of mine, taught to me by some very unique beings. They showed me the ability to sense a person's chakra level and power, I'll explain chakra later when I feel that you should know about it, but suffice to say I had developed the ability to sense chakra quite well, so when I used in Metropolis I was able to sense every person in the city's chakra, something of a precautionary measure habit I have been able to develop after some time.."

Superman was not sure yet but as he began to grasp it, he then began to guess just how the Hokage was able to sense him back in Gotham. Batman was also intently listening to this and he began to see the meaning behind it as Clark spoke.

"You sensed my chakra as well?"

Naruto nodded.

"Yep, and I got to say, you have a really large amount of it and it was hardly the same to what I had sensed in humans. So I already knew that despite your choice of disguise and your human looks, you were hardly human. I tracked you down and then took a Henge…"

Flash spoke next.

"Hold it, what's a Henge?'

Naruto laughed a bit and just did the hand signs and to the League's surprise, Naruto took the appearance of Green Lantern, J'onn was surprised in a higher sense since it was similar to his people's ability to shape shift, Stewart felt both surprised and annoyed that he was being used as a test subject by the blonde guy's action. Naruto then spoke, surprising the League further as he spoke with Stewart's voice down to the last detail.

"This is Henge; this allows me to copy every physical trait a person has, from looks, clothes, skin tone, and voice. It's one of the many skills I picked up over the years and I was trained in it's use for a long time. But it does have flaws, let me show you."

He lifted up the hand that had the Lantern Ring and they noted that when he tried to focus on it, it did not react in the way it did with Stewart even when Naruto had Stewart's glowing green eyes when he used the ring. Naruto then placed his fingers together and shouted a bit.

"KAI!"

The smoke appeared and Naruto was back to his original form and he finished.

"I can only copy the physical things of a person, not the memories, powers, that sort of thing, useful for infiltration and misdirection, but not so much. It's not that effective either if you face high ranking, experienced, and skilled ninja since they can tell the difference. This Jutsu is actually a very basic technique so anyone who is trained in the way I was can do it."

Flash replied to that with a wide grin.

"Cool! Now that must be one heck of a party trick, works wondered on missions too huh?"

"Yep, now back on topic for Superman, this is how I got close to you."

Naruto then used the Henge again and soon appeared in front of Clark in the same form as before and Clark was wide eyed as Naruto grinned at him as he spoke.

"Curtis?"

Naruto then reverted back to his original appearance and decided to get serious as he knew that his next decision on the matter of his past, was going to be deciding his fate with the rest of the League before him.

"You got it Superman, that's how I figured things out in regards to you, but I did not do anything else afterwards. And through the same Jutsu I was able to sense you when you were in Gotham with Batman and his crew. You were the only one with that chakra type in the whole city so I knew you were coming. I told you this to at least ease the question out of your mind and truth be told. This is just part of the things I need to reveal in order to know if you all are still willing to have me be part of the League. And if I feel ready, I can tell you about that trick you saw me use when I made more of myself."

J'onn could sense the turmoil in Naruto lightly, he did not pry deeply into Naruto's mind and he did recall that on occasion, he had sensed that there was something else in Naruto's mind. He had felt it before when he tried to use his telepathy to get his attention and his aid in fighting the invaders.

Naruto then spoke to them in a calm but undeniably serious tone.

"There's a reason I am different to you here, and this I am not from around here, I come from a village that happens to be a very long distance from here. And you will not be finding it anywhere on the map of any nation and country."

That made the League curious as Batman was the one to speak first.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"It's because I come from a world that is nothing like yours, I am, what you might call a totally…different world."

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

This chapter is now officially over and I now get down to doing the story on Naruto's origins on the third to the last part of the Origins arc.

Most people would complain why I am going to reveal Naruto's life story, but I have my own plans for the story and this is required since it will be part and parcel of the rest of the story. Besides, one has to remember that I can decide to either let the League know the WHOLE story or just parts of Naruto's life while keeping the rest of it out. This has both good and bad parts, since it is a balance of sorts.

The good in the case of the first option is that Naruto is able to finally explain his origins and why he is able to do what he can in battle and what he can bring into the League and why he is what he is as well as his history. This way he has no reason to hide his past and thus can be more open to the other members of the League.

The bad part is that there is going to be some possibility that the others would be more wary around him due to the discovery of Kurama in his body. Even if Kurama and Naruto are now partners and allies, it still does not mean that the League members are all that convinced that Naruto has full partnership with Kurama which is to be expected since Kurama is still a Demon in definition despite no longer carrying the hatred that he does for humans. That also includes his marital life since you can bet that the discovery of his marriages which might offend some of the team though that depends how that is executed. You an bet that while Flash would find it fun, the others, namely old Big Blue Boy scout might take offense.

And there's no telling how Diana and Shaeyra will react to that discovery just yet. (I'll fix the spelling later okay?)

The second option's good part is that it can help keep Naruto's more potent powers from being revealed and allows him to not reveal Kurama unless he has to, it also prevents the other members of the League to learn about Naruto's full might and his origins. This course of action will also allow him to avoid the whole deal of dredging up bad memories that he does accept but does not like sharing too much. Plus it will be in line with him being a ninja and a high ranking one at that.

The bad part is that it will make the other League members being to suspect that he has not been honest with them at all and will start seeding doubts in the minds of the others. There is also the fact that once Naruto uses Kurama's power in a critical situation and they did not know of it, they will be very wary of him and the fact that he did not trust them with this means that there will be the belief that Kurama might decide to take over Naruto at some point in time.

We already saw the results of not trusting one another in several episodes of the series ourselves League so I don't need to write in specifics. And Naruto is the kind of person who values trust and for good reason as the people who he trusts become very important to him.

And he has the power to still change people's hearts and minds without using force or illusion , so he can still do that in a very interesting way.

…

On anther note, most people would ask me in PMs if Naruto will want to find a way home to his dimension. I can say that it would not be the case. Naruto's already left the world he was born from in the hands of the new generation and it's their time to live their lives, and accept the results of their decisions, good and bad.

And as Denzel Washington once stated in John Q in front of the police when they had him in their sights, which is one of my favorite movies by the way.

"I am not going to bury my son! My son is going to bury me!"

Naruto is already way past the age most people can live with some exceptions, and he has already lost loved ones, so he is not in the mood to feel the pain of being the one to bury his children before he dies, even more so for his grandchildren. No father, or grandfather deserves to be the one to bury his own family while he keeps on living.

So no, Naruto will have no desire to go back, I hope that settles it.

…

All of this will be on the next chapter, but as I have stated I will allow you all to decide just which path Naruto will take in revealing himself.

Will it be the whole story?

Will it be in parts while the rest is hidden?

You can PM me and give me your suggestions.

…

Also we will get to meet Naruto's editor, who has a very…interesting relationship with said ninja writer.

See you soon!

(Sorry, made some modifications since I made a number of errors and had to clean it up.)


	7. Chapter 7

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Justice League so let's not get the wrong idea…

Chapter 4

Part 3

Origins…

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

In the League's new base of operations…

The new core members of the League looked at Naruto and could not help but try to grasp just what were the implications of such a statement. They all had experienced and seen some very strange and interesting things in their own times, but this was something new to them in a certain state. It was soon Superman who spoke to the blonde Shinobi.

"You're from another world? Are you an alien like me, Supergirl, and J'onn?"

Naruto shook his head and replied.

"No, like I said to you and Diana when you caught me I was born between human parents. But unlike most of the humans here on Earth, my family and the rest of the people in my world, we all have the ability to use the energy you all saw me use, and some of the techniques that you all saw me use are actually common techniques in my world. I guess you could say that the people in my world as well as me are very different from the humans here."

Batman then took over. as he spoke seriously.

"So you're people are all meta-humans?"

"You know, I could never understand what that term is, but I assure you that we are human where I come from, though there ARE some exceptions to the rule. Can you at least tell me what a Meta-human is so I would at the very least know what is it you guys are talking about?"

Batman decided to fill Naruto in on the details of what exactly a Meta-human was and how they were created. Essentially meta-humans were created when people are changed through natural or artificial means to possess powers and abilities that normal people would not have. Batman explained that while a number of people who became Meta-humans used their powers for the good reasons, others used their powers for less noble reasons, and while some were misunderstood and did it only to survive, others used their powers for more cruel and evil reasons. Naruto listened in on the details and had to admit that in some ways, these people sounded like those with Kekkai Genkai back in his world. And some of them sounded to be rather interesting and he wondered if Pamela could be considered one, but he was not going to reveal to anyone that he knew her of course, especially Batman.

Having known of her files from what he had been able to gleam, he had a very accurate idea that Pamela and Batman had a less than friendly history. And revealing that he knew of her was asking for trouble from the dark Knight. He had no doubt he could take Batman on but he was not an enemy of his so he would gain nothing by doing so in the first place. So he kept that tidbit to himself and when Batman was done, he replied.

"Well I am pleased to say that I am not a meta-human though I ca say that those powers sound similar to what Kekkai Genkai do, which I think is a topic I can discuss for another time. What I can say is that many of the people in my world actually have what you could call a special circulatory system in the body that regulates chakra and it's a natural occurrence as far as I know. Chakra is a naturally occurring source of power in the lands I came from so it's natural that people can use it with a good deal of training."

Diana was intrigued by that and made it obvious as she spoke to Naruto.

"Anyone can use it or are only ninja trained in it's use?"

"Usually it's ninja who use it, but there are others in different organizations who can use chakra, the Samurai forces in one of the lands where I come do for example. But usually the Samurai there channel their chakra into their blades to increase the length and even the cutting force of their blades. And it's not just men if you are curious Diana-hime, women in my land use it too, and sometimes they have far greater power than some guys."

Diana was interested by that and it was here that she recalled the title of sorts that Naruto added to her name.

"What does hime mean by the way Hokage? You have used that term to me for a while now so I was curious why you add that to my name."

"Oh, that means Princess where I come from and like I said before, I respect the fact that you are here to help fight the enemy even if you are from a culture that does not look too well towards men. Even more so as you are a member of royalty Diana-hime so I give your name a title that befits your status, but I can bet that the people are going to be calling you by another name soon enough."

Naruto decided not to mention that he had actually been married to a Princess before, there was no reason for him to mention Koyuki-hime at any time since that was private. Maybe when he finally felt comfortable enough to tell them everything about himself, he would do so, but until he knew them a lot more, some secrets were going to remain buried. The blonde Shinobi decided to just let out the basic details about himself and keep the more sensitive stuff hidden away. Though that did not mean he was going to be too cautious and drop a few hints to make it a lot less likely that he was hiding something.

"I see, how powerful are the women ninja in your world?"

Naruto thought it over carefully as he knew that talking about other ninja was not exactly something that was considered as sound thinking. Ninja always lived in the shadows as was their name sake, but he balanced it with the fact that he had met a number of ninja were not your average ninja. And he was possibly the most obvious example of that kind of ninja since he was not the one to compromise his emotions for any reason.

"Powerful enough Diana-hime, Kunoichi in my world are very powerful people and some of them become highly regarded in both good and bad ways. Many of the Kunoichi of my world have all risen to high status in their own time and through their own methods. And some even become Kage."

Hawkgirl was curious and asked what that meant.

""What is Kage anyway? Some sort of rank?"

"Close to it, but before we get to that sort of discussion, I am going to explain some things about my world. Then we can get to the term Kage once we get some of the details done and out of the way."

The heroes listened and were surprised somewhat to learn that his world was almost the same as their own, but with a number of differences as well. There were such things as air ships, television, electricity, trains, refrigerators, everything. But that was balanced off by no cars, no computers, no air planes, no guns and a few other things that most of them with the exception of Diana took as normal. There were forms of government that sounded more like what one found in feudal societies both in Earth's past and in other worlds, and the nations were differently named. It was enough to make them picture that Naruto came from a world that was both modern and medieval. Yet there were ninja in the mix as well, along with Samurai as well as other organizations to boot.

Naruto then told them about the different nations, starting with the major ones.

"There are at least five Great Nations, the Land of Water, the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Fire, where I come from. The other nation all have different names, some might sound a bit odd to you, but that's the way they are. Now each of the Elemental Nations are led by Feudal Lords and the same goes for the smaller ones as well. In each of the major Nations are Hidden Villages."

"Hidden Villages? What are those?"

Naruto directed his attention to J'onn and replied.

"Hidden Villages are the ninja villages, they are where ninja are trained and operate from, both home and base of operations as it were. I can't tell you anything too sensitive about them, but what I can say it that each Hidden Village has a symbol to them and their names are synonymous with their symbol. In my case, the village I belong to, Konhagakure, or the Hidden Village of the Leaf use this on out forehead protectors."

Naruto then pointed to his forehead protector and the heroes did see that there was a symbol that was like a leaf there. It was also here that Naruto recalled something that he thought about, and decided to ask just to see what was going to be the answer he was getting. That naturally involved Diana since he felt this should be an interesting topic of conversation.

…

"By the way Diana-hime, can I ask you a few questions about your people?"

"Of course, but I won't answer any questions that can be considered dangerous."

"Fair enough, first, do any of your people ever age when you leave your home?"

Diana thought it over and replied.

"We do age at a normal human rate, but when we step back on the soil of our home island, the years we spent outside in Man's world are removed and we return to the age we were in when we left. So in a sense we have some form of immortality."

"Okay, do you have children on your home?"

"Not entirely, only I and my sister were born there, but on occasion there are some of us we were adopted due to unique circumstances. That's pretty much what I can say about that for now. Men are not allowed on Themyscira by Amazon law though I do not know what it was like in the past."

The other heroes were taking that in and Naruto decided to speak as soon as he took the data in. He could not help but guess that if his perverted Godfather and sensei found out about an island filled with women, he would have really wanted to go. And no doubt would have been reminded about that time he had tried to sneak into that village.

"The reason I asked is that I was curious about the Amazons since there is a Hidden Village where I come from that seems to be somewhat similar to your home with some differences."

That got Diana's attention and she made that clear to Naruto.

"What exactly do you mean by this village being similar to my home island Hokage?"

Naruto grinned and replied.

"The Hidden Village in question is called the Nadeshiko Village, and the reason I can compare it to your homeland Diana-hime is the ninja there are all female. Kunoichi from Nadeshiko Village are considered to be among some of the most skilled, experienced, and powerful Kunoichi in their own right though they are not above praising both male and female ninja from other villages. They reside near the borders of the Land of Water and while not often seen, they are considered very capable indeed. The reason for them only having female Kunoichi is that for some reason or another, they only have female children, I never figured out on the why of that though. You could say that they are my world's version of the Amazons and they certainly know how to fight."

Diana was intrigued by that, the idea of another group of women who were like her own people was pretty interesting. And if they had the same access to the kind of power Naruto had, it would not surprise her that they were ver deadly fighters. She wondered briefly if it ever happened that one such woman of this…Nadeshiko Village came alongside Naruto, would she be able to speak to her. But she then recalled that there were some differences mentioned by the Hokage on her people and these Kunoichi from his world.

"You said there were differences between my sisters and these Kunoichi of your world, what are they?"

Naruto nodded and replied.

"For one, they don't have immortality so they age and die like most people, though they certainly live a bit longer than your average person when not fighting. That's due to the rigorous training they undergo and the need for them to be the best physically and spiritually. Next is the most telling, they take men as husbands to have children, but their method is a little bit…unique. You see, they don't just look for any man to be their husband. They look only for the strongest Shinobi who can get their interest, and then they challenge him into a fight. If the man wins, then the Kunoichi takes him to her village and he is her husband so they can have strong children afterwards. If the guy loses…well, you can pretty much bet he'll get a quick death."

THAT surprised the heck out of the League, even Batman was a bit wide eyed at that and then Hawkgirl spoke.

"Wait a minute here, are you telling us that if the guy beats her in the fight, he becomes her husband, but if he loses, she has to kill him?"

Naruto nodded and Flash commented.

"Man…that is harsh…"

Superman was soon speaking next.

"That's not too far fetched to me, I remember when I was challenged to a fight by Maxima who was a warrior queen who wanted a husband who could best her in combat. Still the part where the man gets killed if he loses to the woman is a bit extreme isn't it?"

"Yep…it was, though I do recall the law being changed somewhat over the years."

Diana then spoke next.

"That is a bit odd, I cannot understand why they would need men that much though I guess it makes some sense since they are not like us, so I will not judge them by my people's standards."

Batman then spoke next.

"How exactly do you know this much about them?'

Naruto laughed a bit and sighed.

"I had my godfather and sensei to thank for that, you see a couple of years ago, when my godfather was still younger and I was not born yet, he got himself involved with them. And let's just say that he did not exactly leave that good an impression. Though in his defense, he did not do anything too destructive or so it went. Anyway, he managed to get away from them but three days later, when he thought he could relax, he found himself facing one of them. And not just any Nadeshiko Kunoichi either, but the head of their village and the head of their entire ninja force. She was the strongest of them and despite him escaping, she tracked him down in three days with no sleep or rest."

"My godfather by the way was a very powerful ninja himself so he was challenged by her and it took another day before both of them were placed in a draw. The valley they were in at the time was torn apart by them so you can bet that the fight was intense. But eventually my godfather convinced her to stop and they came to an agreement that if they met again since my godfather was on a mission at the time, they would fight again. And if they did not meet, then a student of their respective sides would be the ones to finish the fight between them. So you can wager a guess just who got saddled with that promise."

"Anyway, I met the student in question, one named Shizuka and her retainer Tokiwa when one really annoying suitor of hers tried to fight her again. I was supposed to let the matter go since it was not my business, but Tokiwa sought me out when she learned I was a Konoha ninja, and then made the whole story clear on what happened to my godfather back then. Needless to say I was pretty much shocked out of my skin when she told me that I have to fight Shizuka-san due to the promise mentor and my godfather did. And I will admit that had things been different it would have been a shot since Shizuka-san was pretty attractive then. But I was not keen on the idea of being forced into marriage, even more so that I have to fight said woman. But I had no choice when I learned just what was exactly Shizuka-san's situation concerning the law from her retainer."

"Why is that?"

Hawkgirl asked and Naruto replied.

"Turned out that she was against the law herself and was actually in love with a merchant guy named Sagiri who was granted entrance into the village for trade, and he loved her too. But because he was not a Shinobi, their laws forbade from getting married the way the wanted, they wanted to change that law, but then he was killed, by some of the village officials as suspected by Tokiwa and Shizuka decided to train and never love anyone again. So even if she did follow the law, she was already dead inside, figuratively speaking anyway. I decided to fight her for a different reason and while she thought she had won the fight, I had used a Shadow Clone. But things kind of went down hill when that nut job suitor, named Kokuyo came back and used a technique with his machines that Shizuka destroyed to control her like a puppet. I freed her and had a chat with her about it."

Naruto smiled a bit at the memories that invoked and when he finished, he replied.

"Suffice to say, when that discussion was over, Shizuka and I parted in amicable fashion, and after a few years we met again and she was happily married and had changed the laws of her village."

The heroes were silent at that and then Superman spoke next to the blonde ninja.

"That was a pretty interesting tale, so where to from here?"

…

"Right, nearly forgot that I was not done yet about the Hidden Villages and Ninja, well, like I said the Hidden Villages are the homes of the ninja of my world and thus, it's also a place for getting missions. But you can't just grow up there and be considered ninja, you have to be trained for that kind of life. To that end, every village has it's own design for the forehead protector and their very own symbol as well. In each village, there's an academy that teaches children to be ninja. "

John Stewart was surprised by that and also angered as he thought that the children were actually forced into being ninja. He was not aware that he was basing his train of thought on what he had seen both in his time as Marine and as a Green Lantern.

"You mean to tell us they took you in that Academy as kids? Isn't that supposed to be wrong?"

Naruto was confused by that for a second or two until he answered it.

"Why are you getting so hot tempered? It's the decision of both the child and the parents for the child to go to the Academy, it's just like going to school here in this world or sending you kids to school. After all, if you're part of a Hidden Village, you can be just a regular person there and run a business and paid, or become a ninja. I wanted to be a ninja ever since I could walk so I joined. No one forced me to be a ninja you know, it's all up to the person if they want to be one or not and many parents in my Hidden Village wanted their children to be ninja so there was nothing against being ninja. Plus the payments were pretty nice and we did our part for the economy of the village, and you haven't let me finish."

"They don't teach you to kill or anything right away; you do that only if you are in combat and if it becomes utterly unavoidable. Most of the time, the Academy instructors teach you about history, writing, map reading, political science, and also what are the various skills of being a ninja, namely in how to use chakra for all the Jutsu we use, it's natures, the various elements and the like. There are usually three branches we focus on being ninja, that being Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu, and there are more advanced lessons in weapons usage, coupled with other skills deemed needed for the lives we live. All students are usually required to show balanced or high levels of competence in all three categories, but there are some who excel in either one only or two of those categories."

"Once you learned enough, there is a Graduation Exam where the Instructors grade you on everything you know, from the mundane to the various methods of using chakra, and of course your competency level in relation to the three. If you fail one, it usually depends on the instructors to pass you or not. If you pass, then you get to be registered as Ninja of your Village, a portrait is taken, and you get the forehead protector. You become a Genin after that, which if you want to know is a rank. I guess I should get down to the ranks next, which naturally includes what Kage means."

The heroes were ready to listen as Naruto began to explain the ranks to them as what they had been able to hear so far about Naruto's world was interesting.

…

"Genin is a rank that is usually reserved for graduates of the Academy, they are usually ninja who are assigned a certain number of missions of a certain rank level, and are only assigned to certain missions of a higher rank if they are possessing skills and experience that allows them to take part of said missions."

"What sort of missions would that be?"

Naruto thought it over and then replied.

"Usually light duties at first, picking up trash, cleaning up the place, helping clear out obstacles, helping take care of lost items, and animal rescue….what?"

Naruto's question was for a good reason as Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, and Flash looked at him as if he had grown a second head, complete with horns, or in his case, fox ears. It took a moment or two until Batman spoke to him.

"Your people who are ninja actually do that?"

"Yes, what are you looking so surprised all of a sudden? It's not like the villages send newly graduated Genin right off to the battle field, which would be only done on very serious circumstances. It would be stupid to send rookies with no field experience and are not understanding of the need to fight and possibly kill. Besides, it's done to see how the team works well together, they usually assign the Genin into teams led by a Jonin who serves as sensei so it's usually two guys and a girl in the team with the Jonin being male or female."

"Usually, the missions Genin get are E-Rank or D-Rank missions, and these are usually non-dangerous missions and are paid from the range of five thousand to fifty thousand ryo. And ryo happens to be the currency of my world. I'll show you guys a bill later but that is usually the kind of missions we get, with C-Rank coming close to actual combat work and danger."

Superman soon spoke next as he was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea of ninja being told to do gardening work. In his youth, he had seen movies that dealt with ninja and the idea of them doing gardening work and being paid for it was a bit…alien.

"You guys get paid THAT much just for gardening work? That's fairly expensive."

"You might say that, but usually gardening is not that simple, even cleaning trash means we might very well have to clean the entire sewer system of a city for example, or also cleaning out the weeds in a noble man's house. And sometimes, those kinds of missions could be converted into a cover story. We'd be hired as gardeners, only to be forced to defend our client from a sudden attack. Anyway, the rank of Genin is just a rank, it does not demonstrate the personal skills and abilities of the ninja in question. I know of one old man in his fifties named Kosuke who was called the ten thousand year Genin and he is from Konoha. "

"But the reason he remained a Genin was personal since he made a mistake in the past that got his team mates killed, so he believed that he did not deserve to be of a higher rank. But he trained like mad for many years and is actually one of the most skilled ninja I ever worked with when I was younger. Heck he was a Jonin level ninja and managed to wipe out several bands of ninja for a day or so by himself and only using his cooking gear, a hidden sword, and a blade he concealed in a compartment in his prosthetic leg. Rank does not denote skill and experience after all, it's the person himself or herself."

"Anyway, Genin have to spend a number of years doing missions until their Jonin Sensei decide that they have what it takes to take the Chuunin Exams in order to be Chuunin."

…

Batman was the next to speak.

"Another rank?"

"Yep, being a Chuunin is the best way to get new missions and you can take a number of specialized jobs as a ninja. But the Chuunin Exams are not for the faint of heart, you have to compete with all of the best and the most skilled Genin teams from all the other Villages, and the tests can make or break a ninja's career. You can take them twice a year and they are usually held at a different Hidden Village though it's usually limited to the five major villages."

"How tough can they be?"

Naruto looked at Flash and smirked a bit.

"I don't really know how the Chuunin Exams were handled in the other villages but I can tell you what it was like when I took the Exams in my village at thirteen like my own team did. You have to be granted first a letter or recommendation by your Jonin sensei and when you apply, the first part is a written exam, at least a hundred or so questions that can really make your brain ache unless you are a genius. The objective of that exam is to gather intelligence by any means that are needed WITHOUT getting caught by the proctors, all of whom are usually specialist Chuunin or Jonin instructors. And those said instructors are very brutal, you get caught even by an inch, you are out, and when you get kicked out, your entire team gets kicked out as well. The demands of it are pretty darn hard and it can really be difficult since all one has to do to fail it for his or her team is to quit, get caught, or break. And believe you me…when my team and I took the exam, I've seen adult and teenage Genin teams fail and drop away like flies."

"The objective back then was the need for intelligence gathering since you have to remember that the intel you get can be the difference between life and death, success or failure. If you are willing to see it to the end, then you are in. But that usually is only part of it, on the next day was the more physical aspect of the exams. The teams that survive the first part now have to carry one of two different scrolls, and you cannot open the scroll you have or you are out. And the only place to open it was in a special tower deep in the middle of a forest, which by the way you have to reach within at least six days."

Diana then replied.

"I take it that forest you speak of is not a regular forest?"

"You got that right Diana-hime, that place's official designation is unknown to me now, but we all know it by one name. The name in question is the Forest of Death, and believe you me, it lives up to the name. Anyone going there is going to be courting death at every step since it's not just the wild life you have to deal with, but the other ninjas who will try to take the scroll you have. They can't have the same scroll as you might, but if you have the other scroll, then all bets are off, and that means you have to fight them, usually injury or death as far as I recall is a certified guarantee. The only way to avoid that is to give up the scroll in question, but that does not happen often since the ones who are in it are not going to just give up the scroll, unless they are facing a really tough enemy."

Stewart was really stunned by this and yet he wanted to know just what was in this Forest that gave it such a name.

"Why do you're people call it the Forest of Death?"

…

Naruto began to tell them just what sort of creature and plant life inhabited the Forest of Death, and all of them were all dangerous, gigantic, poisonous, and at times, both at the same time. With a vast majority of the animals in question totally carnivorous. Added to that the danger of battles with other ninja and the battles being no holds barred fighting, even to the death. It became obvious why it was called the Forest of Death to the heroes. Needless to say all of them were silent and shocked, Batman was pretty calm, but even he was shocked by what he had just been told by the blonde ninja before him.

And it was Diana who spoke, this time her tone was a bit more serious.

"And you as well as your fellows at the same age of thirteen went in there willingly?"

"Yes, and before you react, we were also shocked by the dangers there, but that is why the Chuunin Exams are not for the faint of heart. And the Jonin Sensei in charge has to be absolutely certain that the ninja he or she leads are truly ready for that position as Chuunin. And besides, I was willing to do what I could to be a ninja, even if it meant losing my life, because that is how it is for us there in my world. You might think we're crazy or insane, but every other adult ninja did the same thing we were doing when they were our age."

Flash shook his head and replied.

"I know that we're not in your world, but damn…don't your parents even object?"

Naruto shook his head at that.

"Most Genin' parents were themselves ninja so they make sure that their children know what they are asking, and like before, it's all personal. Even if the parents of the Genin are not ninja, they know that the life of a ninja is filled with danger when they get older so they always make sure that their child knows the risks they are going to deal with if they take the Chuunin Exams. Though in this case, it's up to the Genin themselves, had either of us in our three member team chose not to take it, then the whole team was out, and we would have to wait for the next one. In my case, I was an orphan since my parents died, I did get some help getting by, but I wanted a better life for myself, and I had other reasons too, and I wanted to be a great ninja, so I took it, good and bad, and never looked back. My own Sensei passed the Chuunin Exams when he was eleven so that tells you guys something of the kind people my kin back in Konoha were like."

That made the League very silent as they soon began to understand just what kind of life Naruto had to lead. And it also began to give them an idea of what were the events that shaped their blonde comrade into who he was.. They decided to listen more as Naruto finally wrapped up his experiences in the Chuunin Exams, he told them that he had not cut it in the end, but he did not regret it at all. He had learned much about his team and himself, though he made sure that he did not tell them about the real reason why he failed the Chuunin Exams.

He then explained that Chuunin usually handled C-Rank to B Rank missions and on occasion even A Rank missions which were a lot harder and involved combat to a higher degree than the missions handed to Genin. Though A Ranked missions were only given to Chuunin with higher experience and skills, as most of the time it was Jonin who took them.

Once that was over, he then spoke about the next rank.

"The next rank is Jonin, and while I am not really sure about the process and how it's done in the other villages, I do know that in my home village that it's the more senior Jonin who vote into having any prospective Chuunin who pass the needed requirements to be Jonin. Jonin usually are the team captains and serve as higher ranked ninja and usually handle A Rank and S Rank missions, both of which are pretty dangerous with S Rank being the highest in terms of risk and terms of pay. That usually involves transporting highly valuable and sensitive documents, and assassinating VIPs who are dangerous to have around, and the pay's at least a million Ryo. Jonin are also divided into specialized teams determined by their skill and experience level as well as their specialties. Some are experts in intelligence gathering, interrogation, specialized teaching and more. They also serve as sensei to Genin teams obviously and those who are very experienced Jonin are the ones who serve in the Jonin Council."

"Jonin Council?"

"Yep, as I said it's a collection of all the known and high ranked Jonin and they handle more unique affairs in the village and form the Kage Council on occasion. They along with the Kage Council, the Fire Feudal Lord and the Feudal Lord Council vote on the next Kage of my village if the current Kage is either killed or unable to perform the duties of the office, which includes naming a successor after retirement though that only applies to my village of Konoha. There is also a special force of Jonin that make up the ANBU."

"ANBU?"

"They are the Black Ops forces of the ninja world, every village has an ANBU force and they are directly under the command of the Kage of their village. All of them are Jonin and while they do take missions like other ninja, their role is more unique and complex than regular ninja and they are called in when a situation is critical. They also serve as Kage body guards, Special Forces, elite scouts, and more. ANBU are also taught to use a special Jutsu that incinerates their bodies to ash if they are in a situation were they cannot escape and capture is certain."

The heroes were impressed a bit by that and also disturbed and Naruto decided to speak once more.

" I guess I should get to the Kage bit right?"

Superman nodded as he was curious about this.

"Does it have something to do with your own code name of Hokage?"

Naruto nodded and explained the details to the heroes. He told them that Kage meant Shadow, a fact Batman confirmed and the term was only given to the highest ranking ninja of the Village. Ninja who were considered Kage rank were the best and had to possess a wide variety of Justu in all three fields, had years of experience under their belt, and had done many things that have helped the village and it's people as a whole. The position of Kage was not hereditary and thus anyone who can meet the requirements of the Kage position can be placed there. He did point out though that a Kage must also possess a love and bond with the village, it's people, and it's beliefs so if the person does not have that bond, then he or she cannot be Kage.

Once voted into the position, the Kage had to be responsible for ever detail of the village, upkeep, salaries for the ninjas from Jonin to Genin, finances, missions to be taken to the appropriate teams, and the sort. Kind of like the President of this nation of the US. Only difference there was that the Kage was by heart and tradition a warrior and if the Village was attacked or in a dire situation, the Kage would step in to save the village and defend it's people. So Naruto phrased it well by saying that the Kage was a warrior king or queen in royalty terms and led by example in the front lines. This made the heroes a bit more than interested and both Diana and Shaeyra approved due to their warrior cultures.

The Kage could also approve of missions by all clients who can afford to pay the fees of the ninja, it did not have to be clients from their Land as well, other nobles from the other nations could hire the ninja, but this usually led to competition between villages.

He also explained there to the heroes that since there were five major lands in the Elemental Nations and the five major Hidden Villages were there, then the Kage were named after the lands as well. For the Land of Water, the Kage there was called the Mizukage or Water Shadow, the Kage in the Land of Wind was called the Kazekage or Wind Shadow, the Kage in the Land of Lightning was called the Raikage or the Lightning Shadow, the Kage of the Land of Earth was called the Tsuchikage or Earth Shadow, and lastly the Kage of the Land of Fire was called the Hokage or Fire Shadow. That made the heroes take things in slowly and Batman finally decided to speak to the blonde before him after he mentally stored away those details for further study when he had the time.

…

"So you carry the name Hokage as a way to honor your village and it's leaders?"

Naruto grinned and knew that his next series of words was going to really throw the League into a bit of a loop.

"That's part of it, but the other part is that I was a former Hokage myself. Like I said, the title of Hokage is earned not given on a silver platter, I lead my village myself before I retired and passed on the title of Hokage to my successor. I still carry the name as a sign of respect of the office I dreamed of holding since I was a kid."

That got their attention yet again and it was Stewart who was the first to speak.

"You lead your village? You've got to be kidding us."

"I take it the comment about me kidding you all about me being the former leader of my village is because I look like a teenager to you and the others right now? Hate to disappoint you Lantern, but age has got nothing to with rank and don't forget that I said that I was older than I looked when we met. My friend Gaara, Kami bless his soul, became Kazekage at age fifteen. And my Jonin sensei Kakashi became a Jonin at age eleven, so don't judge me by looks alone. I might not look like it, but I led my village for a number of decades before I finally retired and gave my place to my successor. If you are curious, I'm already a century or so old."

"And how do we know that for certain?"

Naruto expected that from the incredulous way Stewart was looking at him, and he directed his attention to Batman.

"You happen to have a device here on the tower that can determine the age of a person by a blood sample Batman?"

The Dark Knight nodded and took out a slide and a needle and moved to Naruto and gave it to him. Naruto pricked his own finger and placed the blood on the slide. Batman then took the slide and then headed off to the device in question. It was a portable medical scanner that scanned the exact age of a cell to determine the age of the organism that it came from. And as soon as the results were in, he placed it down and plugged in the results into a slot.

Soon a data stream came in and there were the results as Batman spoke.

"The scans show that your cells' exact age is at least that of a century…so you ARE a century old."

Naruto grinned a bit and replied as he looked at Superman.

"Give or take a few months actually, now you know why I did not like it when you called me a kid Superman, apart from J'onn and possibly Diana-hime, I'm the oldest guy here in this whole room. But don't call me an old man either, that is twice as offensive since I am still physically a young man, just call me a man who has…aged well. So if anyone here makes a crack at me being an old man, you and I are going to be meeting in the practice mat."

Diana could not help but raise her eyebrow at that and spoke once more, her interest growing even more as she was trying to wrap her mind around the idea of a man who was a century old or so, yet look like a teenager or young adult man.

"But how is that you still look so young Hokage?"

Naruto thought about it a bit more and decided to give some data on his family tree, it was not like he was ashamed of his family line. He was utterly proud of it and had high respect of his clan for their willingness to carry the burden to help others.

"That's got to do with the fact that I belong to a clan with what you can call a Kekkai Genkai. And I think now is the time I explain that since I said I would. Kekkai Genkai is a term for the genetic traits that make a person possess abilities that are above the norm of regular people. I can say that in a sense, those very same powers are similar to the powers of Meta-humans. Only difference there is that Kekkai Genkai users are unique due to the variety of their abilities."

Naruto began to explain some of the more interesting details of Kekkai Genkai, how those with Kekkai Genkai could actually fuse two chakra elemental types together to create new elements. He also explained that Kekkai Genkai also was not limited to fusing elemental chakra.

"There's a particular branch of Kekkai Genkai known as Dojutsu which has to do with techniques that involve the eyes. One such clan that has that is one of the noble houses in Konoha, and that was the Hyuuga Clan."

He explained to the team just what was it that made the Hyuuga Clan famous in Konoha and to other villages around the world where he came from, but he also made sure to mention that they had been subject to attacks by others. The attackers sought to capture the Byakugan which was the Dojutsu that made the Hyuuga Clan famous in the land. He however did not mention that he was actually the husband of the Hyuuga heiress Hinata Hyuuga. That was one bit of information that he felt they did not need to know about just yet. Once he was done with explaining some of the functions of Kekkai Genkai, he moved to his situation.

"Anyway, my Clan is the Uzumaki Clan and we were famous for several things. The first was the reason for my long life span and that of the others in my clan. The Uzumaki Clan members were all gifted with a remarkably high level of vitality and stamina, which translated to having a much longer life span than your average ninja. The vitality and stamina of my clan got to the point that the Hidden Village founded by the Clan was called the Villages of the Immortals. A bit of a stretch to be sure, but it makes some sense since my mother's people have been around for a very long time."We will eventually die but we will have a very long life before we get to that point if we are not killed first."

The heroes listened as Naruto continued.

"The second reason is that due to our very unique stamina and vitality, my mother's clan also happened to have some level of unique healing abilities. I'm not too privy to the details but one version of that unique healing ability was that by being bitten, some of our clan could transfer healing energy into another person. That might sound a bit sadistic but the method can actually be able to heal injuries that by all rights could kill normal people. There are some other healing techniques my mother's clan knew about but I do not know them all."

"The next and the last was our clan's mastery of Fuinjutsu or the ability to seal away anything. And when I mean anything, I mean anything so you can bet that my mother's clan earned quite a reputation back in the day. They used their Fuinjutsu to fight off powerful beings and to also move things through space and time on occasion. But because my mother's people were so famous for this power, other villages with the exception of Konoha who's ruling clan the Senju were allies and distant relatives of my mother's clan, feared the power they had, and destroyed our village, hunting all of us down as well as destroying the Land of Whirlpools."

That reminded Superman somewhat of the destruction of Krypton, even though the circumstances were different. That made him feel a bit more connected to the blonde Shinobi since he too had lost his homeland, though he suspected that things were different for their ally.

"Most of the clan scattered after that and my mother was allowed to reside within Konoha so it became her home afterwards. And you can guess the rest from there."

The heroes remained silent as they took in all the details until John spoke.

"So these Kekkai Genkai users were well received in the villages? I mean people with abilities like that Hyuuga Clan have must have been pretty much welcome."

…

Naruto then sighed as he replied.

"Not all Kekkai Genkai users were welcome though, in the Land of Water, before a good…ally of mine became Mizukage, anyone who was suspected of having Kekkai Genkai were tracked relentlessly and killed, even if they were children. It was well known the ninja and villagers would actively purge those with Kekkai Genkai and hunt them down to the death."

That shocked the heroes as they would have never ever condoned such an act. Diana was the most offended and replied.

"But why would the people in the Land of Water kill children with Kekkai Genkai? No one has the right to kill children like that for something that they cannot help but be born with!"

Naruto nodded and replied.

"I know, and I agree wholeheartedly with you Diana-hime, but there is a reason behind it. You see the Land of Water was always locked in conflict, so many people were killed in these battles, and a lot of those battles happened because of those who had Kekkai Genkai. One clan in particular known as the Kaguya Clan were famed for their lust for battle and violence, so much so that they willingly let themselves be annihilated just for the chance to fight and spill blood."

Superman was shaking his head in disbelief at the thought of a clan of people allowing themselves to be hunted down and killed just for the thrill of battle, it sounded completely wrong.

"They willingly allowed themselves to be killed?"

"Exactly Superman, and they killed many people before they were hunted down, so naturally it was enough to make many people in the Land of Water hate people with Kekkai Genkai. So as much as I don't want to say it the people who were part of those purges were not entirely wrong in their actions. "

Batman had to admit that it made some sense, a lot of people might like Meta-humans, but not everyone felt the same way. Even he did not fully trust Superman, even more so when he was taken by Darksied and brainwashed. But had Superman done it willingly without being controlled, it would make sense to be very wary.

Naruto however did not mention the details pertaining to Haku and Zabuza, which was one story he had no interest in talking about. Both of them deserved to truly rest after the War and it had made him angry at Kabuto for his part in bringing them back.

John then spoke what he felt about this discovery.

"Sounds like your people all mold you into real killers. Most people I know of here would call those people in your world criminals in letting kids into a situation like that."

…

Naruto snorted a bit and replied.

'Not ALL ninja in my world are assassins you know, as I said Genin are not sent into battle without them getting more used to fighting, and there are plenty of other stations ninjas take part in. One example for all villages are Medic Nin, these are ninjas who undergo intense training in healing Jutsu, human anatomy, medicine, the study of medicinal plants, and more. All of which was focused on medicine and treatment."

"Most Medic Nin are healers and therefore don't serve in the frontlines, unless they are part of a team and they are in the field, and as such, they were not allowed to fight and only fight if the situation becomes such that combat is unavoidable. That does not mean that they are entirely healers though, some of them can use their healing training and knowledge for be poison masters."

"I know of one old woman who was a Medic Nin who was named Chiyo-san who was the most skilled poison maker in the Elemental Nations. And the one who she had a rivalry with was the former Kage of my home village, that person being Tsunade Senju and who was a mother figure to me, apart from being related. If you like I can show you what she looks like and the only other female Kage I knew of when I was Hokage, the Mizukage Mei Terumi."

The heroes watched as Naruto summoned two Kage Bunshin and then the two spoke the word.

"HENGE!"

The two Kage Bunshin turned into two female Kunoichi, and drop dead gorgeous ones at that. One was a blonde Kunoichi who wore a grey kimono top, black skin tight pants, high heeled shoes, and she was a very beautiful brown eyed woman who had a mark on her head. The next woman was in deep blue clothing with blue nail polish

All in all, the transformed Kage Bunshin were now in the form of two drop dead attractive women who were also…rather well endowed. That fact made Superman actually look a bit embarrassed, Flash could not help but whistle in appreciation, John raised an eyebrow as did Diana and Shaeyra, Batman looked the same as before, while J'onn was still trying to wrap his brain around this.

Naruto then explained to them just who the people were.

He told them that Tsunade Senju, the blonde one was the foremost Medic Nin in the world and had mastered a variety of healing techniques and was known to be a fine cure specialist for various types of poisons, as well as making drugs for medicinal and interrogation purposes. And she was also considered to be one of the strongest women in the ninja world, in fact he took a bit of a feel for it and replied she would be just as strong as Diana herself.

That was something that surprised the Amazon princess and he then explained who Mei Terumi was and what she did as a Kage, though he did not tell them that he was married to the woman in question in a political marriage. Once that was done, he had the Kage Bunshin revert to normal, much to Flash's disappointment and they poofed away and he spoke about the fact that also some Medic Nin served in the science and veterinarian professions in the village though in different ways.

Once he was done, he also spoke about the Ninja couriers, or in the tongue o this world, the Ninja Postmen.

...

Flash could not help but laugh a bit at that bit of information at the idea of ninjas who delivered the mail and replied.

"Ninja Postmen? You're kidding right?"

Naruto snickered a bit and replied.

"I wish, but being in the world I came from, you do need to be extra careful. So unlike the postmen in your world who don't risk their lives, unless you consider being attacked by dogs and irate people a risk to your life, Courier Ninja are trained to fight and evade any threat. We do have ways to send messages back and forth, but Courier Ninja are just as fast and the guys who make up he Courier ninja group are pretty darn good in their work. I know because one time I tried to recover a package I accidentally sent from one of them. And boy that guy made me work for it, I was a kid then, but damn they were tough to deal with every now and then."

"Anyway, there are also the other unique ninja groups such as the Hunter Nins, or the Ninja Undertakers as we call them."

J'onn spoke next.

"And what do they do?"

"Hunter Nin are specially trained ninja who are tasked to hunt down and eliminate rogue ninja who are not of Kage rank and terminate them. They also make sure to destroy the bodies and take the head. That might sound disgusting, but the head is for proving the target is dead, and the bodies are destroyed to prevent anyone from finding out the village's secrets. Secrets that I am afraid to say cannot be revealed to any of you. I might be in a different world, but I will keep to the rules of my home. Suffice to say, they are needed on things like this."

"There's also the Cooking Ninja who are only seen as part of the Land of Lightning, don't laugh, they are named as such since they happen to be able to wipe up meals that can sustain people for days to nearly a week. But as far as I know, they are not often called in since their cooking can REALLY make people fat. I dealt with a few in the past and they can be a real hard bunch to deal with."

Naruto sighed once more and relaxed a bit until he continued.

'"Anyway, I am not all familiar with the positions taken by other ninja, but I will state that this is how it is on my world. Some of you might not like it, or outright think it's nuts or morally wrong, but that is how it is there. But we did achieve an era of peace and all the villages were working well together, I was Hokage at that era and my people were happy, safe, and enjoying the future, and so were the other villages. Sure were still some conflicts, but at least we all can be united under one flag as Shinobi when it comes to that. The real threats we have in times are renegade or missing ninja…especially those who are S-ranked ninja."

"S-Ranked Ninja?"

Naruto nodded to Shaeyra and replied.

"All ninjas who come from the Hidden Villages wear their symbols of their villages openly to show their loyalty and origins to others. Renegade or Missing Nin on the other had serve as bandits and raiders of the highest order, they sell their services to the highest bidder regardless of the missions and the risks and they have no loyalty to any village. In fact, a vast portion of them are usually written into the Bingo Book which is similar to the Most wanted here in the US. Enemy Ninja or people who have a negative history with other nations are usually registered there and have bounties on their heads to boot. S-Ranked Ninja who are criminals are also prominently figured there due to the various acts they committed and are usually banished as a result and therefore they are the ones who are listed the most in all the Bingo Books and have a high bounty on their heads. Even my village had a number of Missing Ninja in my time, and a number of them were S-ranked ninja."

"The most dangerous group of S-Ranked ninja were known as Akatsuki."

"The Red Dawn correct?"

Naruto nodded at Batman's comment and replied.

"All of them were S-ranked ninja criminals from various villages who made themselves into a Ten member group, usually with two of them working together. These guys each were highly skilled and dangerous ninja with very potent abilities at the time and they were undeniably dangerous. One such person of that group I knew of came from Konoha itself. His name…was Itachi and while there was more to his actions than most had realized before…he was accused of slaughtering his entire clan, even his parents."

"What…why would…why the heck would he do that?"

Naruto sighed and replied.

"I had no clue at the time, but I can say that there was indeed more to it, which I am not going to talk about. Suffice to say the ninja who made up most of Akatsuki were terrorists and murderers, and I personally fought some of them as well in combat. Another topic I will not speak of for reasons that are my own. It's that I don't trust you all, but like they say, we all have our own secrets and some secrets HAVE to remain buried for their own good."

Flash then spoke next.

"Okay…so can you at least tell us how you got here to our world?"

Naruto then told them what happened in the mission that he was on after he left the village when he retired from being Hokage. They listened carefully and as soon as he was done, the blonde Shinobi finished it all off with a simple message.

"I don't know how it happened or why I came here, but I am willing to make the most of it and I hope that what I said to you all can be understood."

The League were silent for a time and Superman spoke next.

"It's given a lot of things for us all to think about, and I am happy that you told us those things, and we'll respect your secrets Hokage. So, I need to ask you this, do you plan on joining us? You might not be part of this world, but you did help it out many times now so we could certainly use your help."

"That sounds about right, and truth be told, even though this League you guys mentioned kind of resembles Akatsuki in a way, I am pleased to know that it's purpose is more noble and for a greater good than most. Okay I am in."

Batman remained silent as he decided to make sure to keep tabs on the blonde Shinobi, there were still plenty of secrets there and he wanted to know those that might be dangerous. It was risky since he had already seen some of what the blonde could do in battle but he had to always keep himself at the ready for anything. However he did have one concern in his mind and he decided to voice it out.

"There is one thing we do need to know. If there is a way to send you back to your world Hokage, would you take it?"

Naruto looked at Batman and could tell that it was a serious question, one that he himself thought about a lot on occasion. He had no doubt that if by technology or by magic, there would be a way to go home, but he did know that he had already done so much there in his world. So many things had been done and the people back home were now free to do what they wanted and have peace in their time. Many of those things were accomplished by his friends as well as himself and he had lived a good life, so where did that leave him?

The blonde was silent at this and so the other heroes were waiting for the answer, they needed to hear what he had to say so at least they were sure that he did have any intention to stay here in this world of theirs. But they were also willing to help him go home if he wanted that as well, they were not going to force him to stay since he had done a lot of good things for his people and if he wanted to go back to help them then they would indeed help him.

Naruto then replied to Batman's question.

"Thanks for the offer if you could do it Batman, but I think that my time in my world is done so I will not go back. And before you ask me why, let me explain. My life in my world is complicated and it was hardly easy, there had been times I had…been pushed to the point I wanted to leave. But I never gave into those feelings and fought to make a name for myself, to prove that I can be strong for myself and others. I also met good people there, people who I cared about in life and made living a lot more beautiful."

"I had to struggle hard to reach my dreams and keep getting up no matter how many times I was beaten back, down, how many times I bled, or how many foes I had to face. My life back home was filled with happiness, sadness, victory, defeat, pain, healing, loss, gain, and more. I accomplished my dreams and helped bring a peaceful world to those who would be the kings and queens of my world after I and those of my generation were gone. So it's to those men and women back there in my world and my village that I entrusted the future, good or bad. After all, it is the duty of the ones who have the ability and power today to make a brighter future for those who will succeed them, and it is in those same people that the future is built on. That is why I retired from being Hokage, my time is over and their time is now, I have taught them all as much as I could and I have to let them decide their fate."

Naruto sighed a bit and finished it off with a grin.

"So no, I will not go back to my world, not because I hate it, but because the future I and my friends, family, and allies have fought for is now the present and the future is in the hands of the new generation. That to me is what a hero is, heroes don't do the things they do for glory, honor, fame, prestige, or for just the thrill of it, they do it for the simple reason that they can give a better future for those who will one the succeed them. That might not be what drives others or any of you, but it is my Nindo or my way of the Ninja and I have kept to that code all my life. If I can do the same for the generations here in this world, then I will do it. And I think being with you all can make that task a lot more fruitful, not easier since we're all different people with our own way of doing things, but that is was defines a team, right?"

Superman laughed a bit that as he sensed the truth there and so did the others, Flash had to comment a bit in a cheeky way as well.

"You really sound like a tired old man like that Hokage."

Naruto mock glared at Flash and replied.

"Be thankful for the fact that I like you Flash, otherwise this old man is going to give you a serious whipping for that remark."

Flash laughed and replied.

"You're on!"

It took some time before the decision was accepted and Naruto realized that he was part of a team again. It felt…nostalgic as it were but he did not mind it at all, being with a new team was certainly an experience and he had learned first hand that it all boiled down to how well they all worked together that would make or break the team. And considering who he was now going to be working with for the duration of his time here in this world, it was hardly going to be boring.

It was also here that Bruce decided to get into planning something for Naruto, namely in the sense that he would be needing a place to call his own and also consider home. His nomadic lifestyle made since to Bruce, but he wanted to give the guy a more permanent place of residence, yet was off the grid.

And he now had an idea on how to do just that and he also had a feeling that he can find the right place to set up the place in question..

…

In the Santa Susana Mountains…

Naruto could not help but whistle at the sight before him and he was pleased to know that it was all his, at least it was the way he was going to feel. He looked at Batman and spoke to the man he was looking at him and spoke in a very curious tone.

"You actually asked that guy Bruce Wayne to buy this parcel of land? That guy's got some serious finds I bet."

."That he does, this place will be officially listed as a plot of personal land under the Wayne Foundation which will not be exploited for any reason. This place should be a good place for you to call home, though I will need to convince him to buy it and seal the deal as it were. But the only thing I need to hear is you saying that you are all right with this place so I can help make the deal final. He's also considering letting you use of their warehouses near the city limits to be the place for you to move into the city and out of the city before you go home."

Naruto grinned at that and decided to ask again.

"Is he going to be all right with that?"

Batman gave a slight smile and nodded a bit.

"He did pay for the Watch Tower and all the technology on it so that should tell you something of his willingness to help the League. Mr. Wayne's a philanthropist and he feels that helping the League is in turn helping others in the world."

"Okay…man I got to meet this Wayne guy myself, I saw him on TV a few times when I dropped by your city but never thought he'd be willing to pay for the whole thing, especially this sweet place and the Watch tower. He deserves praise in my book, and coming from me, that's something."

Batman did not say anything as he looked at the blonde who went back to looking at the place over. He knew that it would dent his finances a bit as Bruce Wayne but compared to maintenance costs of the Watch Tower, the fleet of Javelins, the supplies and whatnot, buying this plot of land as private property was not going to be much. This place was not owned by the government and it was private land and well away from the city so to give the blonde Hokage some privacy. Plus it was usually woodland and not much for habitation. Most people would think that it's purchase was just on a whim.

But the land he had purchased was actually good land and could be made a place to live and he had made plans to have the place walled off and made to withstand some of the wildfires that are known to move around Los Angeles. There was enough flat land on the plot to have a house and he planned to make the place self sufficient in terms of water and also there was a place that could be used to set up a solar power bank for electricity.

Once Naruto agreed to the land he was going to call home, which was not too far from Los Angeles, he would have supplies brought in to the place to build the house and have the house made in a way that would suit Naruto. But all of that could wait as he needed to see what Naruto thought of it and he was also going to show Naruto something else.

There might be some ruffled feathers by the more radical environmentalists who might assume that he planned to make a factory there or even harvest the place, but he felt it would be all right. He had a feeling that this place was going to be all right in the blonde's hands since the blonde was more used to living in his own fashion. And from what he had seen of the blonde's way of life, he was not averse to living by himself too many times.

The blonde turned to face Batman and nodded in approval.

"This place looks about right and at least it's connected to the highway that can allow me to go to the city as soon as needed a few miles out. You can tell Bruce Wayne that I am all right with his offering of the land for me and tell him that I'll make sure to thank him in person when I meet him. That of course will have to be one of those private meeting types, did he promise not reveal to anyone this arrangement between you and him?"

The Dark Knight nodded at that and soon the arrangement was made. Naruto would still remain in L.A until the new house was built under his directions and how he liked it. Naruto already had a house design in mind and as soon as he told Batman about how he wanted the house to be and look, the Dark Knight nodded in agreement. Though he did decide to speak about something else as well since building a house in the middle of nowhere and keeping it 'hush-hush' was not something he considered as easy.

"How long will this new place take to set up?"

Batman replied.

"Not too long, Bruce has some good friends who help him and keep silent about things like this."

…

Three weeks to a month or two later…

Naruto could not help but smile once more at the sight of his new home and he had to give credit for Bruce Wayne for being very thorough in getting a place for him to call home. The house was very much like that of a large Japanese mansion and was built up to the standard of any Japanese traditional house, and could fit a large family if needed. It was a bit much to be sure, but it was something that he wanted so no sense complaining about it and how it was made. He moved in and looked at each room carefully to take in the details.

There was obviously an open area in the middle of the compound that would be something of a training area, along with a few rooms on the sides. One was something of a meeting hall, another a dining area with traditional Japanese furniture, next was a kitchen with all the amenities of a well maintained kitchen, a freezer for food and drink, as well as a few other things.

Next room was obviously a bathing area and a place where water could be channeled to make into a hot spring in it and also a changing room. There were also other guest rooms at least four to five and had all the things needed, including futons and regular beds found in any Western household. There was also a place that seemed to be bare but Naruto decided he could find a use for it later. The last was obviously his personal room, it was not too lavish and had only a bed which was very comfortable in design and feel, a table with a few chairs as well. There was a cabinet and closet as well as a few other things that he could use for himself.

The walls around his home were not that that high and were actually surrounded with trees and actually had some form of fire barrier so it would not be easily reached by fires just in case wild fires did break out. And while there was no lake, there was a well placed plot nearby that he could use to grow anything or turn into a vegetable garden or more.

All in all, the house was certainly worth living in and since it was connected to a bank of solar mirrors to provide energy to the house, it was not connected to the power grid of L.A so there was less chance of him being forced to pay a power bill. And he did have access to a nearby spring of water so he did not have to be connected directly to the water distribution system of the city. And thus he did not have to pay taxes or anything of the sort while he was there. All he had to do was buy food and supplies, and coupling it with his Hirashin Jutsu, he could move from the city to here in no time.

The lights were also the kind that seemed to be more economical in power so he could use less power, and since the location was windy enough, he did not have to rely on air conditioning, unless it was steaming hot. Even then, the air conditioning seemed to be top notch and also designed to do more with less power. His own connection to the TV was possible due to the fact that Batman had somehow given him a private satellite link to the Watch Tower that allowed him to watch the news and other media channels to boot.

…

As soon as he was done examining his new home, the blonde had to admit that he was going to enjoy living here and he was going to set up several posts in the inner area which he could use as mediums to create a Genjutsu to hide his place better. All he had to do was push in some of his chakra to activate the seals he would carve in that would create the Genjutsu. There was also the fact that the house was given a form of terrain masking field by Bruce to keep it from being seen by cameras owned by regular people, even by military forces and intelligence services.

It did have a connection to the highway but was made to a simple dirt road to nowhere, or so people thought.

It was going to be a bit hard for him to live in one place again since it had been a while since he had resided in one place ever since he adopted a mobile nomadic life style.

As he entered the house, he was pleased since the place was currently well aired and he enjoyed the cool air in his place. He took out his scrolls and moved to the rooms that were the best places to unload his stored away gear. Once he did what he needed with his gear, he headed down to the living room and decided to open up his laptop, connect his USB Modem and also plug in the latest security unit to keep his IP address hidden. It was one of the things Batman suggested for extra privacy. Batman had also insisted the learned how to drive and had been given a simple SUV for his transportation needs in and out of the house area. Batman also mentioned that he had convinced Bruce to set up a small warehouse under Waynetech that could be where Naruto could go to from his home to get into the city to do his usual rounds. The warehouse also happened to be where he could be teleported to the Watch Tower when he needed to be there.

He had not gone there just yet since he was getting used to this place.

…

Once he was done with logging on, he decided to get some left over work done and then head off to meet with his boss Carolyn who was no doubt going to give him a very loud verbal lashing for not reporting in on the allotted time for the rest of the week.

Once he had gotten back from the League meeting, he had spent the rest of his months handling the loads and while he now had plenty of money in his pockets, he decided to earn more on the side. He did not tell the League he wrote perverted novels for a living, no sense letting them know, plus he had no idea just how Diana and Shaeyra would react to the news of his writing choices. But if his experience with women was anything to go by, it would either be all right and funny, or an open invitation to the highway to hell.

He loved that song a lot and wondered why no one ever got to listening to that classic. That was when he decided to have some fun and listen to his favorite music. This included J-pop and rock music which he understood and found to be fun. But that was balanced by some of his own western favorite music which was pure…what was it again? Oh yeah, rock and rock heavy metal.

He had amassed a serious CD collection over the years and even had those MP3s stored in his computer. And right now, he was listening to one of his favorite bands, one called Atreyu and a song he liked a lot since it resonated wit him, that song being none other than Honor.

(Ah, life is good.)

(("Well I am happy for you Naruto, and at least despite some of their culture that surprises me, at least these guys know how to make good music."))

(Got ya…they said I was supposed to have a house warming party or something like that. Never had one before back home so I have no idea why you need to warm up a house. Kind of curious how it will turn out when it happens though.)

(("You ever tried looking up in that thing you call the internet what that term meant yet Naruto? That might answer your question right off the bat."))

(Nah, I like to be surprised, anyway, I should get this over and done with, and say hello to my boss and see how the books are doing.)

(("Right…and then you have to play catch up with her too I take it?"))

The only response Kurama got was a laugh which only served to confirm what he suspected his partner had in mind. The Bijuu found the fact that his partner was getting used to working with a team again amusing, and it also had a feeling that considering his partner's history with the opposite sex, there was going to be a lot of drama involved later on in the future.

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

There we go, chapter finished and now I have decided to use a solution to the idea of how to have Naruto find a place to live in while in the area around L.A. I had been in Los Angeles before of vacation so I am pleased that I was able to remember some places where our blonde friend could set up. The place is not much, but it will have to do for now and I might make it a more permanent residence for Naruto. I decided to have the residence out on the outside of the city for safety's sake and also for Naruto to be closer to nature which is more him anyway.

The house in question is actually based on the house that Kushina lived in when she was a girl back in Konoha. And while I did not get all the details right, I did have some idea of the house's looks and also from images of traditional Japanese houses that I have seen as well. The house is masked from scanners and also cameras by Bruce and couple that with Naruto's use of Genjutsu, he is better off now than before. And since he can live off the grid, he does not have to deal with being found easily.

I know that some people might suggest that hikers and other kinds of people moving through the outdoors might find his house, but I will fix that soon enough. I would not make these kinds of moves unless I have a plan in mind. And there is the fact that since the place is out of the city, you can bet it will be more acceptable for some of the people coming to Naruto's place. Once person in particular is going to say hi to the blonde soon enough.

…

I decided to take the second option on Naruto revealing his history, since I had to admit that I felt that it would make the story more interesting in the long run. Sure it would make things harder for Naruto, but he has always lived a life where he had to deal with adversity and more on a regular basis, this naturally included his status as a Jinchuuriki. If I had Naruto reveal everything, it would deny me the chance to make the story more dynamic and interesting as well. So for the ones of you who thought that it would be better for Naruto to reveal everything, I apologize and I hope that you will not take offense to my course of action which goes against what you have suggested to me in your reviews and PMs.

I had thought long and hard about this and while I feel that I could have done more, I have a lot on my plate so I did what I could with the data that I have on hand and also with what I know.

…

On the next chapter, we will not yet go into the chapter dealing with Lantern's little run in with the Man-hunters. That little adventure can wait and I do have to come up with an idea on how to allow Naruto to fight underwater when we get to dealing with Aquaman and company from Atlantis. In this chapter, Naruto is going to meet his boss again and he will also have the house warming bit from the heroes with the marked exception of Batman since he has his own thing to deal with.

Naruto and his boss have a very dynamic relationship, the no strings attached type and I might even include a few lime or lemon bits here on the chapter.

Poison Ivy might even pay a visit and you will bet that I will reveal just what happened between her and Naruto before he left Gotham. All I can say about that meeting is that Naruto proved to Ivy that he was dead serious about providing her a chance to enjoy being a woman with a man. As for Selina Kyle…she might make an appearance soon in this story again and you can bet that her appearance is really going to make things very interesting for the people involved.

Plus I would like to point out that Naruto and Selina's relationship is not yet at that level since Selina is not yet fully trusting of Naruto. So don't expect a lemon between her and Naruto just yet. And for the benefit of those who are curious why Selina is blonde and not dark haired like she was in the new Batman series, I had not seen it entirely and I personally like the original animated version of Catwoman more than the new version of her.

…

Anyway, with this done, I will focus on my other non Halo stories, if this is able to meet the expectations of you readers then I am very pleased with the results. If not then I apologize in advance since trying to work on this while working part time is eating away at my energy and creativity as well. But I will work to make sure that I do it the way I feel is more me and right up my alley.

Next to be updated in the non-Halo category is still my works related to Naruto and then the ones not related to either Naruto or Halo. I won't say anymore which story is the one to be updated, all you will have to do is wait and trust me.

Send me your comments and reviews as well as critiques. Flames will immediately be disposed of or ignored since I have no time for them. If you don't like the story, then don't read it.

Bye!


	8. Chapter 8

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League or Naruto so stop breathing down my neck.

Chapter 5

House Warming and Guests

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

In Naruto's new home…

RRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGGG!

RRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGGGG!

RRRRR-CRACK!

Naruto yawned and looked to see the now crushed alarm clock on his bedroom drawer and shook his head. Apparently his reflexes made him smash his clock hard…again. Even though he spent money of buying customized reinforced clocks, his strength usually broke them. The now ruined mass of metal and components was the fourth watch this month.

(Maybe I ought to start investing in clocks made from steel…that or stop this bad habit.)

The blonde got himself out of bed and looked at the calendar nearby and saw that now was the time for him to go and meet up with Carolyn. His boss had been asking for him to show up at the office to get his latest paycheck, get a new order list from her. And also she wanted him to hear some news that she felt was for his ears alone. He wondered just what his older female boss wanted from him this early since it was technically still three thirty in the bloody morning, the office usually opened at eight. But Carolyn had asked, rather demanded that he come to the office to get his paycheck today and also report in for some news that she felt was important enough for his eyes only before he reported for work today.

His job in Winters Publishing was to write his stories to be published and provide some input to the rest of the working staff since he was a part time worker and not full time like the others. He did not hang there in the building for too long as he worked there for at least a few hours. As he got himself out of bed, he also moved to the bathroom and decided to take a good shower, once he was done with bathing, he moved to dry himself up and get some breakfast into his stomach first. He took out some still cold but fresh and well preserved tuna and some rice, got the rice cooked and then got to making some instant ramen. He wished he could go and get some takeout ramen but he decided against it since the ramen bar he usually went to only opened at the morning and he knew that now was not the best time since they were rather sleepy after serving customers for hours until nine in the evening. He soon went to the tuna, took out his knife and channeled his Wind chakra into it and began to cur up the fish into well portioned slices for the rice.

He also took out a carton of fresh milk and poured himself at least a glass full and cracked open a bottle of fruit juice, namely orange and poured in another glass worth of the drink. Once he got the rice done, he had two of his Kage Bunshin roll them into rice balls by hand and have them place the balls down and began to eat it with the newly sliced tuna as well as the now fully finished ramen.

He took gulps of the cold milk and orange juice and enjoyed his food for all it was worth and since he spent some good money on getting good food he made sure to buy only the best. It took him at least thirty minutes to polish off his food and with that done, he decided to get refreshed up for the meeting. One thing he learned from his married life was to always look good and at least smell nice and that was the reason why he took a good amount of time in his bath and after breakfast brushed his teeth as well as try that mouthwash stuff.

This stuff had a fairly interesting bite in his tongue and mouth but he did not mind and once that was out of the way, he got to dressing up. He put on his frog boxers as before, and then grabbed a black shirt with stripes of orange in them, there were three stripes were on the shirt two on the shoulders going down to the front and the four strips on the sides of his stomach from front to back. He liked the shirt and since it fit his MO well enough, he took it months before. The fact that his boss did not mind it and his colleague in the publishing house did not rattle him about it made him happy. He then placed on his black pants with two orange lines on the sides going down from his hip to his legs,. He then wore a pair of comfortable cotton black socks and a pair of black shoes with orange flame patterns.

To complete the whole set were a pair of fingerless gloves and he then styled his hair a bit to not take the usual spiky look. With that out of the way he then colored his hair in the same shade of red as before and used a bit of Henge to hide his whisker marks. He looked himself over and smiled at himself. He might not be in high fashion in some areas, but this was L.A and thus there were different views on fashion here. As soon as he was done, he got his kitchen cleaned up and got his SUV keys. He decided to scan the area with his Sage Mode and once he was sure that his place was only surrounded by the usual plant and animal life he got out of his house and got into the vehicle given to him by Batman.

…

Later, approaching the Waynetech Warehouse…

Naruto drove the SUV and listening to the music of one of his favorite Japanese music artists, there might not be a lot of guys who listened to the stuff here in the US unless they spoke the same language, but he was one of those who bought them. And since his world's language was definitely similar to the Japanese language, he had no problem enjoying the music himself. The disguised Shinobi moved through the highway and decided to keep to the required speed limit so the last thing he wanted was to get the attention of the LAPD this early in the morning. The police were not a problem to him but he was on the side of the good guys and these guys were the good guys. He did keep in mind that on occasion he ran into corrupt cops and officials in his time in being the Hokage of the city of L.A, so not everyone in the LAPD were good guys.

It took him some time to finally arrive in the warehouse, he got the special access card and slid it into the card reader and soon the warehouse opened up and in he drove. Once he got inside, he parked his SUV and locked it down. He then took out a scroll and placed the keys on the open scroll he placed it in storage and kept the scroll in his own backpack that was also strapped twice to him by invisible chakra strings to make sure that thugs did not try to rip away his pack. Along with the keys to his vehicle he also had his gear ready for use if he had to don them and go to work as the Hokage.

He then got out of the warehouse and soon headed deeper into the city, he checked his watch and saw that he had time. He headed for a nearby car-park, snuck in and as soon as he was on top of the highest part of the car park, used his chakra chain to begin moving quickly over the city. It was risky for him to do so since he did not have his disguise, but he made sure to stick only to the shadows and when news or police helicopters were near, he quickly got down to the ground in the shadows and walked the rest of the way.

The blonde then decided to drop by a nearby deli since he knew that apart from Carolyn, there was another person who was willing to be there in the building this early in the morning. And the guy certainly needed the grub since it was going to be a while before he was going to be relieved by the afternoon shift guard.

…

Winters Publishing Building…

The blonde soon made his way to his working place and he was eager to meet up with Carolyn and once he got his check, he could hang out with his boss for a while before he left. As he only worked part time, he was not needed to stay the usual eight hours like most people, and while Carol and the others in the building at times asked him what he did, he knew that they were not going to pry into his life too much. He had just taken a bus from the deli shop and head to the place where his workplace was and decided to walk there.

The building was very tall, not too tall but it was a good place to work in and well kept as well. SO far the parking area was devoid of cars, with the exception of his boss's car

Naruto yawned again as he quickly took out his pass key and opened the door with Franklin Morris, the security guard greeting him inside. The man with dark brown hair with streaks of silver hair was a former soldier who got hit in the thigh by a stray round in battle and had the bone in his thigh splintered by the bullet that tore through his leg. The only reason he still had his leg was due to the fact that several of his buddies managed to get to him and save his life and get him to field hospital and the surgeon there saved his leg as well as his life. Had they delayed any longer, he would have bled to death. He had been taken back stateside to heal and when he was out, he had been given a honorable discharge from the military and a pension. The pain from his wound still bothered him and he had no other option but to work as security for a number of years. The pain was pretty bad and he was thankful that he did not have too many cases to deal with.

But the bosses Frank worked with before finally let him go, but not before he had to deal with being stuck in dead end assignments. It was hard to find new work after that years later and he felt that he was not going to get far until he got hired by Carolyn and managed to get enough money to have a second round of surgery to finally ease the pain with the help of a Chiropractor.

"Hey there Sage, you're pretty early."

"Yeah, boss wanted to see me about something."

Franklin nodded and allowed the blonde in, truth be told, the old man liked Sage, the name sounded a bit off but he did not mind. The guy was definitely different from the regular guys his age since he usually spent time chatting him and brining him good quality coffee and food. Not the cafeteria crap he got back in the office, but actual good quality grub. And the coffee was special brew since it certainly did not taste like instant coffee, plus he had some pretty good stories to boot and he certainly was good when it counted.

"So, you planning on working on some of them new books you got cooking up?'

"Yep, and also to see what's the latest word from our respective boss lady on how the books are doing and also get my pay for the half of the month, she already here by any chance?"

"You got it man, she's been here an hour already working on the reports plus looking over on the new scripts and story boards coming in from the other writers. I don't know how she manages to handle being in that office as long as she does, but at least it's only once in a month, not every damn day. But Carol's a good boss and she pays well, not like those cheapskates I used to work with."

Naruto nodded at that and took out a package.

"You ate already Frank?"

"Nah, managed to get me a half eaten bagel and some cold juice from the fridge back home when I left for this early morning shift. Didn't have any time to get me a proper breakfast when I got here, and it's only been at least thirty minutes."

Naruto nodded and gave the man the package; inside was several sandwiches, one was filled with lettuce, roast beef, cheese, mustard and ketchup, another had chicken with lettuce, ketchup, another had ham with cabbage, cheese, and ketchup. Next to the sandwiches were a pair of apples, and a small container of vegetable salad. The blonde then got out a container that was used for temporary drink storage with s spoon in a sealed container taped to it and gave it to the grinning guard as he smiled.

"Here, managed to make a stop at that favorite deli of yours, ordered the usual and made sure to have them make you a good stock of chicken soup with herbs. Figured that the food there will be what you'd need it for the rest of the day shift."

The man laughed and smiled warmly.

"That's why I like you Sage, you know how to treat people good. Still, I really wish you didn't do it too many times. Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but I feel like I'm taking advantage of you, and that's just wrong."

Naruto shook his head and replied.

"No worries Frank, I respect you and besides I only do this when you get the early day shift and at least that's once a month."

Both men laughed and the blonde moved back into the building and he headed to Carolyn's office. Carolyn usually did this once a month and that was because she wanted to make sure that she had all the files and reports the house had been taken care of so they did not have to worry about it at the end of the month. As he walked through the building to head to her office at the fifth floor of the building, he recalled just how he had run into the thirty old woman who was currently his boss.

It had been on one of the times he had started writing stories and had made his very first script and since it was adult material, he decided to head out and find a publisher. He had planned to go and get himself a paper to find a publisher and had been disguised to do so. Along the way, he had an encounter with Carolyn Winters who was dealing with a band of obvious thugs.

The copper haired woman was definitely very attractive but instead of panicking when she was surrounded, she quickly talked back at the lewd comments and even showed that she had taken self defense classes. She even managed to force a man to lose his knife. But he came in when one of the men was about to take out what appeared to be another knife and the other took out a gun.

He quickly took the offensive and grabbed a small bit of metal, charged it up with chakra and threw it like a shuriken. The weapon buried itself deeply into the man's hand and he quickly moved in and attacked the remaining thugs. He had beaten them up just as Carolyn smashed the face of her last attacker into her car and the two looked at one another. She smiled at him and the disguised blonde soon learned that she ran a publishing house that her family founded.

He decided to ask if she did not mind taking in his work and allow him to work part time for her company. Carolyn was curious about that and they soon headed to her office in this building and when they got there, he gave her some of the Icha Icha scripts. Needless to say, due to his youthful looks, Carolyn was a bit surprised and intrigued by the work and asked him if he was actually knowledgeable of what he wrote.

He recalled just what he had said then, and it had surprised Carolyn a great deal before he realized his 'slip of the tongue'. Instead of being annoyed by his words or anything, Carolyn decided to give him an ultimatum. If he could prove that he could actually do what he had written in the story, she would consider publishing it. If he could not back up the content of his story, then she was going to turn it down.

He had used a tiny amount of Kurama's chakra to find out if she was kidding, but he was surprised to learn that she was not kidding. He asked her once more if she was serious, she replied that since she was not planning to marry, and was not against the idea as long as there was consensual agreement between them to leave it at that, then she was all right with it. Needless to say, his experiences with his wives back in his world came in very handy and Carolyn was very impressed and decided to publish his work and accept him as a part time employee.

…

Carolyn was not a soft woman as he began to work with her and her staff however; she was strict, serious when it came to her work, stern and demanding. She was not above removing an employee who was not performing well and causing trouble. And she was not going to be easily swayed by anyone until she was shown that they had done their quota of work the way they were supposed to. She was a slave driver when she was angry and determined for them to meet a deadline, but she was not a full blown tyrant. To her employees who had legitimate reasons for not performing well she was kind and respectful to them as long as they were telling her the truth of things, to those who were sick, she gave them their pay and gave them sick leave, to those who had to resign for legitimate and serious reasons, she made sure that they were well compensated, and had the appropriate support if it was warranted.

All in all, she was tough and serious, but fair and respectable as long as everyone knew where they stood. He was a bit different with her due to their…rather unique working relationship. But she was just as stern and strict with him when she gave him a deadline and more than once she had given him quite an earful for being tardy and later without proper reasons.

…

As he got to her office, he knocked on the door and soon he heard the woman speak in response to his actions.

"Come in."

Naruto opened the door and he smiled a bit as he saw the woman who was his boss as she was busy looking over piles of papers. She wore a long sleeved light white blouse with a red vest. Her long copper hair which was very straight was currently in a bun with a bolt of light cream white cloth to tie her hair to a ponytail. She looked up and smiled a bit as she saw him. Naruto could not help smirk at the way that she was smiling at him and she spoke to him not long after once she placed down the papers and he was done locking the door to her office, even if they were the only people here, there was no reason to not take some precautions.

"Nice to see that you managed to arrive early Sage, I was beginning to wonder just when you were finally going to get here."

"Sorry about that Carol, but I needed to get some food and supplies for Frank."

"I take it that Frank was happy?"

"Very much so, I made sure to include all his favorites."

"That's good to know, Frank's a good man, but now that you're here, we can talk about your newest paper work. Plus you might want to see just how much your book series had been earning, despite the fact that your little disappearance had left some back log books for you to fill up again."

Naruto sat down in front of Carol as she gave him a folder that contained the reports and when he got a look at it, he whistled a bit. They were earning well and while the books did not become best sellers, the readers certainly enjoyed the material that he was able to make for their enjoyment and pleasure. The disguised blonde liked that fact that he had good readers and fans, and they were not limited to the L.A populace, there were readers in Central City. Metropolis, and even Gotham. He could not help but wonder if the readers included a certain speedster, a super powered alien, and a certain brooding dark knight.

That made him laugh and that made Carol look at him with a raised eyebrow as she was busy looking at her own stack of reports.

"What's so funny?"

"Heh, just thinking a bit on how the men and women this report find the books, I sure as hell hope no kids read this accidentally."

The copper haired publisher smirked at that and agreed with her part time employee and so far, one of her company's more interesting writers.

"That's one thing I can agree on, and so far, we have gotten good comments, though you can bet we have people who complain."

"You can't please everyone."

"You got that right, now then, about your payment for the month Sage."

"Oh? I hope my lack of writing time has not been a bad blow."

Carol grinned a bit and took out a large envelop and showed it to Naruto who recognized it as his pay for the month. Even though he was only part time, the success of the Icha Icha book series had been enough to convince Carol to pay him a full time employee's salary. For which he was thankful and so was she as he did good work when he was given due compensation.

"Here's the pay, but I think you need to earn it."

"And how pray tell am I supposed to do that boss?"

Naruto watched as Carol got off the chair and she was wearing white stockings and a white skirt that was able to go a bit below the knees. The woman smiled at the way Naruto looked at her and then placed the envelop into a box to keep it aside and sat down on the nearby couch and replied in a very amused but authoritative fashion.

"I think you can figure it out."

Naruto sighed in amusement and went to join Carol and as soon as he sat down, the blonde kissed her on the cheek and she smirked as she kissed him right back on the lips.

…

(**Originally there was supposed to be a short lemon section here, but since the administrators in the site are now in the process of purging lemon stories from the site, I removed it. I understand the reasoning of the administrators in their move, though I personally still feel that using the MA rating system is better. Ah well, might as well make the most of the situation.**)

…

Carolyn was pleased as she gave the disguised blonde a deep kiss and as they parted, she moved to the pile of clothes there which was hers. She placed them on the nearby table and soon moved to take out the envelope from the box and gave it to Naruto as she wore her panties. The blonde felt the thickness of the envelop and looked inside to see crisp and fresh dollar bills, all amounting to a full ten thousand dollars in hundreds. It was his half month pay and he would get the rest at the end of the month, Naruto smiled at his boss who he had more than physical and professional relationship with.

"Cash on hand as before boss. You really don't mind handing me liquid cash at all do you?"

The woman moved her hair aside while placing on her bra and she replied.

"After the kind of work you do, and your way of making it up to me for the times you've been missing, I think giving you that kind of payment is enough. Besides, I happen to like you a lot Sage."

"Just not enough to tie the knot with right?"

Carol sighed a bit in amusement and nodded.

"Yeah, though if this keeps up, I might change my mind, you might look like a teen, but you certainly don't act like it. And you certainly KNOW how to make a woman think a bit more about the idea of committing to a more serious relationship. You don't happen to have a condition that stunts your growth by any chance Sage?"

Naruto thought it over and shook his head.

"Nope, not that I know of, I am a healthy and sound young man, though we both know that after all."

Carol smirked and got on her skirt, heels, blouse, and vest as she soon sat down and spoke again to him as Naruto also got back to wearing all of his clothes.

"By the way, I managed to send your friend Masashi's manga designs and story board to a company in Japan a few months back. One of the producers in the company was a friend of mine when I went to Japan to handle some book selling contracts so I asked him to show ti his fellows. That also included the first chapters you and him made as well. And they happen to like it a lot."

That got Naruto's attention a good deal, he had seen some of the anime shows before and he admired the way they were made.

"Really, just how much are we talking about here Boss?"

"They liked it enough to make an animated serious out of it."

"Really?"

Carol nodded in agreement.

"Really, they liked the concept you and Masashi cooked up so much that they decided to make a series out of it. And from what I have been told, they had begun to make the first few episodes plus a pilot episode for the show. They also took the time to contact some very interesting people to contribute to the series itself. Here's a list of said people for you and Masashi to look it."

Naruto took the list from Carol who was now back to looking every bit the stern but fair lady boss, not the seductive and sassy woman he had just been intimate with an hour and a half ago.

He looked at the list and he could not help but raise his eyebrow and spoke to the copper haired woman who was his publisher and boss, as well as some time friend with benefit. The list was nothing bad, just rather surprising to him since it was a list of band names that he knew of rather well.

The list of Japanese Bands and artists included Hound Dog, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Little by Little, FLOW, Sanbomasuta, Stance Punks, Shunokeru, Hearts Grow, Akeboshi, Rythem, ORANGE RANGE, Raiko, Masumisairu, TiA, Kyaputen Sutoraidam, SP, No Regret Life, Anarogu Fisshu, AMADORI, CHABA, Ore Suka Bando, SABOTEN, Yuki Isoya, TUBE, MARIA, nobodyknows+, LONG SHOT PARTY, Ikimono-Gakari, Joe Inoue, Hata Motohiro, NICO Touches the Walls, 7!, tacica, THE CRO-MAGNONS, Home Made Kazoku, Aluto, Question, Masahiko Kondo, SURFACE, Halcali, DEV PARADE, AZU, Kishidan, Supercell SUPER BEAVER, DOMINO, OKAMOTO, TOTALFAT, HemenwayUNLIMITS, DJ OZMA, Nishino Kana, Kamiji Yusuke, Puffy AniYumi, and SEAMO.

All of whom played good music in Naruto's mind since he started downloading their songs into his laptop when he heard of the island of Japan. He had yet to go there himself but decided that with things as they were, that kind of trip can wait.

"Uh Carol, these are the names of my favorite bands and artists from Japan, and I even have their CDs in my collections, why are you giving me this?"

The woman smiled a bit as she adjusted her business vest and replied as she took up a cup of hot coffee that her coffee maker had just made and she had poured down into her cup.

"The bands and artists were contacted by the studio and looked at some copies of your friend's work and they loved it. They wanted to contribute songs to the opening and ending sequences of the episodes and even if the studio made movies of the series. They wanted to send you a list of their names and the songs they have in mind. Since you already have their albums in your collection, I think you can pick the best songs from the albums. The address to the studio is there too. If you're friend approves of the music choices, then you guys can talk it over with the studio via internet and that should get things started."

Naruto grinned and placed down the list, since he had their CDs already, he would have no problem picking the right music for the anime series. If the Pervy Sage ever found out that his beloved student and godchild had made his book a hit in reality, he had no doubt the Perverted old man was going to be smiling down on him. If he wasn't already smiling at the fact that he had made a fortune with the new version of his perverted stories. The blonde looked at his boss and smiled warmly at her as she sat down on her office, looking all the way a business woman would look as he moved forward to kiss her on the cheek once more.

"Thanks a bunch Carolyn, me and Masashi owe you big time."

The copper haired woman smiled a bit at that and replied.

"As long as you keep your promise to me and write good stories for the series you and I started, I will consider your debts to me paid Sage. Anyway I hope that you can get your work done since we've got a lot of mail, most of whom come from people who like your work."

"Any negative mail?"

Carolyn shrugged as she handed him a folder of said mail.

"Oh the usual as in the report, but not that many here in L.A, they love the stuff you cook up after all. You want to take their letters?"

"Nah, I don't need to read those, if they don't like my work, then that's their right to say so and I'll leave it at that. I'm old enough to know that answering letters from people who hate your work is not going to work. Now if they had some proper advice, then I will listen."

Carol sighed as she looked at the watch and saw that it was going to be six soon and she looked at Naruto.

"It's about time to get the office officially open Sage, you have any other concerns before you take to your other activities?"

"Nah, I'm all good, though I would like some of that good brew ya got there boss."

Carol nodded and gave him a mug for him to drink coffee, once that was done, Naruto drank his coffee and enjoyed it while chatting a bit more with Carol before he finished his drink and joined the others who were now coming in. He was not going to be in a office for very long as he had other matters to deal with, all of which had to deal with him doing an early run through the city as the Hokage.

…

Later…

Naruto was currently moving through the city in his Hokage gear and was making his way with both his chakra chains and his Hirashin to cover ground. Once he had done his rounds in the building, he soon got out and headed off to get ready for his rounds in the city before he called it a day and headed back home. He was not yet feeling up to a night patrol but would do so at a later date. The city was definitely different even though he had been here for a while now and he enjoyed the way it looked. The buildings definitely were different from those back home, even making those in Kumo look primitive and the people were just as diverse. He looked at one particular direction and could not help but smirk a lot more as he knew that location well enough.

The adult movie section of Los Angeles, he had no doubt that place would have equated to Heaven for his perverted sensei Kakashi and his godfather Jiraiya. And would have given Tsunade more than enough excuse to pound his godfather into the dirt. That naturally meant he too would be given a thorough trashing by the others if they ever saw him looking in that direction for any reason.

"Ah…Pervy Sage would have loved that."

The blonde's attention however changed as he moved over more buildings and spotted as he got to the lower floors a car running away like crazy. The sight of police cars also convinced him that there was definitely trouble and he quickly decided to give chase on the vehicle. He turned to spot a police helicopter nearby and no doubt he was already spotted. For now however, he was not going to interfere unless it was really bad. And so far the police were doing all right, even managing to punch the tires. That is until the driver turned the screeching anf spark spewing car around when actually opened up with a shotgun on the cops, and it seemed that he was not alone as three more came out with guns blazing.

That caught the cops off guard and Naruto knew that now was the time to get involved. The police car behind stopped as the police got out to fight back, but the blonde saw one of the cops take a hit in the leg and was bleeding on the street. He rushed in and appeared to the man who was crying out in pain.

"Ahhhhh! Shit…first day on the job and I get shot!"

"Hang on man."

"Wait…the Hokage?"

Naruto did not respond to that as he quickly got out a kunai and cut the man's pants to get a better look at the wound. It was deep and the single hole told him that it was a pistol round. He had managed to familiarize himself with guns early on and knew that he had to move. He looked at the man through his ceramic mask and spoke in English.

"Hang on, I'll get the bullet out and heal your wound."

"How the hell do you plan to do that?"

The cop got his answer as Naruto got out one of his pain killer pills and told him to take it now. The cop wanted to argue but with shots ringing out, he did not have much choice. He took the pill and the medicine worked quickly and soon the pain from his wound dulled. Naruto then took his kunai and cut the wound a bit more as two more police cars came in with backup. The other cops saw him and thought he was harming their fellow cop and were about to respond but the cop's partner shouted.

"Let him do it, we got other matters over here!"

Naruto was grateful and soon he got the bullet out, he soon recalled his Medical Jutsu training and summoned his chakra. The police nearby were surprised to see the Hokage's hands glow green and they watched as their partner's wound was actually closing up before their eyes. The cop Naruto was treating was just as stunned as they were as his wound was literally healing and sealing itself up right before his own eyes. Once that was done, Naruto nodded and spoke to the man.

"There you go, wound's healed up."

"How?"

"I'm a ninja so I'm not telling my secrets, just going to say that not all of us are assassins."

The cops went back to dealing with the armed thugs and soon two including the shotgun wielding driver was out of it and dead. Another was wounded and apparently passed out, but the other one managed to get away, Naruto quickly pursued the last one and was followed by the cops and the police helicopter. They soon spotted the man grab a young girl from her mother who was screaming at the man for taking her little girl.

"LET HER GO!"

"SHUT UP!"

The girl screamed and the man turned to face Naruto and the cops as the lead police officer shouted.

"Let the girl go!"

"SCREW YOU PIG! LET ME LEAVE OR THIS LITTLE BRAT GETS IT!"

Naruto did not like the implications as the terrified girl was trying to remain brave, the mother was crying and pleading for the release of her daughter. The sight tore at the Hokage and he was enraged that this thug was willing to use a child who by all rights was an innocent. He quickly decided to cut loose and he used his Jutsu.

The thug was surprised to suddenly find not his hostage, but the Hokage and he saw with even greater surprise that the child was now where the masked and armored ninja freak had stood only moments before. He was not the only one as the police and the mother were also shocked at the sudden switcheroo. He did not have time to react as Naruto quickly knocked the gun away from him and he quickly took out a Senbon from a hidden area of his armor and charged it up with his chakra and turn it into Lightning chakra to work like a stun gun. He did develop the skill to use Lightning chakra techniques, but since it was not his elemental affinity, he had less control over it than most. That was why he had to watch the amount of energy he dumped in or else he might kill the guy outright.

The attack worked as the man screamed as he was stabbed in the leg by the sharp needle and he began to shake as the Lightning chakra hit him hard and sent him to the floor writhing in shock. Naruto quickly moved away and took the gun from him as the man was still out of it from the effect of Naruto's attack as it was like being hit by a tazer.

"Get him!"

The police got to the man and quickly cuffed him as Naruto looked to see the little girl run to her mother in tears.

"MAMA!"

"KAREN!"

The two hugged one another and he smiled underneath his mask as he looked to see that the cops had secured the last thug as he dropped the weapon. He then used the Shushin Jutsu and left as the cops and the reunited mother daughter pair saw him leave with a swirl of leaves as the only mark of his passing as well as some smoke. All of which was recorded by the Police helicopter that was overhead.

He soon appeared at least two blocks away and Naruto turned around to leave and see what else he could be dealing with later. The blonde hoped that the little girl was going to be all right and she would recover from the ordeal. She was a civilian and had no place in a situation like that and that was why it bothered him a lot more than he let on. But he laced those thoughts aside for now and soon moved on, using his kunai wire and chakra chains to move through the high rise buildings along with the Hirashin kunai that he carried with him.

It was not going to be long before he spotted another problem to deal with, this time it was a much bigger concern as he moved towards what appeared to be a construction site. The crane nearby was carrying a heavy load of materials, all metal beams and it was swaying very unnaturally. And right below were a large group of people. As soon as he got there, his fears became reality when the sound of snapping metal was heard and he quickly responded as he used his favored Jutsu.

"TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"

He and his Kage Bunshin quickly arrived as the metal came crashing down towards the people below and all of them were soon unleashing their kunai wire which was chakra reinforced along with the original Naruto summoning his chakra chains to catch the metal bars in a lattice of chakra reinforced wire and chains. The people below, construction workers turned and gasped as they saw the Hokage and his Kage Bunshin as Naruto spoke to them in English.

"Guys! Clear away, I can't hold those things forever!"

They did just that and Naruto soon began to lower the metal bars down as best he could and managed to get them close enough to land safely though he was strained by the sheer weight of all that metal. Once the clanging was gone, the blonde removed his army of Kage Bunshin and once more left the area, much to the surprise of the people he had rescued and the people who had seen the whole affair.

…

Lunch time…

Naruto smiled as he was now a few blocks away from the area where he helped the construction crew avoid becoming a massive bloody mess on the ground and swung using his kunai wire. He soon reached a high rise building while running on the walls with the Tree Walking Jutsu from before. As soon as he got up there, he surveyed the rest of the city and decided to use his Senjutsu to look over and see if there was anything left for him to take care of. As soon as he entered Sage Mode he scanned all the chakra signatures he could sense. But as he did so, he picked a very faint trace of a very familiar chakra.

He opened his eyes and gave a look of confusion.

(That can't be right…that chakra signature I felt faintly actually felt familiar.)

(("I take it we're going to have to check it out huh?"))

(Exactly. It's not the chakra signature of Batman, Superman, Diana-hime, Hawkgirl, Old Sour Puss Green lantern, J'onn, or Flash. Once I get a bit closer I might get a much better idea on just who this person is.)

Naruto quickly moved as fast as he could and he was still in his Sage Mode to try and locate the chakra signature that he had sensed. He closed the distance with his Hirashin technique and soon he was able to get a lot closer and soon he was able to get a much greater idea of who it was. And as soon as he was close enough he soon recognized the signature and that actually made him stop and smirk a bit while still feeling surprise.

(Well now…this is totally unexpected. What is SHE doing here?)

Naruto quickly went back to tracking the now familiar signature and soon arrived at one of the high rise buildings that he knew was housing some very interesting art and gallery treasures worth some very high levels of cash. It was just the sort of score that the person in question could not ignore even on a bad day. And as soon as he got to the roof, he felt the signature was very close as he turned off his Sage Mode and moved into the building through the opening he found. He could already see the work of the person who had that chakra signature. But he also noted that nothing had been stolen yet, which meant that she either cleared out early…or this was a trap. The answer on his mind on this being a trap came to him quickly when his danger senses kicked in as he stepped aside as a whip moved towards him and hit the ground. He soon felt the whip move back and he knew that another attack was coming and his danger senses alerted him as he then rolled out of the way of the second strike and quickly grabbed the whip and held fast as he spoke out to the wielder.

"All right, you got my attention so stop hiding Miss Catwoman or as I say, Selina-chan."

Soon a familiar voice greeted him as said woman appeared in her outfit of all things. Catwoman or Selina Kyle was smiling a bit as she made her way to the man. This raid in a place in daylight was usually not something she favored doing since she was more of a night person. That made things a lot easier, but she wanted to get the Hokage's attention somehow so she decided to make her move in broad daylight, a risk to be sure. But then again, she thrived on risk a great deal.

"Not bad, I almost had the drop on you, almost being the operative word I guess."

He shook his head at the sight of Selena Kyle as the disguised woman was smiling at him, the last thing he had expected was to run into the seductive cat burglar here in Los Angeles of all places. He however kept in mind that he had to find out just what she was doing here in his city so the blonde relaxed and he decided to humor her as he approached her.

"Not that I don't like the company or anything, but there is the question of what are you doing here in L.A and in broad daylight of all things? You're not on the run from Batman are you?"

"No I'm not. Why are you concerned anyway?"

"The fact me and him happen to be on the same team now is a good enough clue Catwoman. The last thing I want is to have Batman grill me on why I seem to be friendly with you. So, what brought you here?"

Selina smiled and replied to that.

"Follow me and I'll tell you Hokage."

The way she moved made Naruto look at her and whistle mentally to himself, as the daylight made her costume look a lot more interesting as well as allowing him to see every detail of her luscious form. And he was thankful that no one else was able to see this, considering the usual news helicopters were not flying about. He followed the woman as the two of them were now moving through the place at a faster pace. Apparently Selena had been training a lot more when they last met and it took a bit more effort for him to catch her. But it was not long before the two of them arrived at a higher end residential area in the rich and famous section of L.A. They soon moved to a high rise apartment and soon they arrived at the penthouse area, and she landed there on the balcony. How they had managed to get here without alerting possibly half of L.A still boggled his brain, but no doubt with things as they were, it was to be expected that people would be too busy at the time of the day to notice. Selina recoiled her whip and carried it on her shoulder and then took off her cat mask and opened the glass door but not before turning and speaking to him.

"You can relax, before I went out to get your attention I made sure to hack into the computer systems to make it seem that I had not left the room. Now you can relax and let me get dressed."

"Why in the name of the Kami do you want to do that? From where I am looking, you look great in the leather getup anyway. Plus the smell of female sweat and leather is a real turn on too."

Selina turned and replied in an amused fashion.

"You are a real flirt huh Stein?"

Naruto merely gave her a foxy grin and she laughed as she went ahead to get change, it was here that Isis came out and meowed in Naruto's direction. The blonde smirked a bit as he placed his mask aside and the cat soon moved to him and settled in his lap. He still had to admit to himself that he found the fact that Isis liked him a bit odd. His time with that feline Tora did not give him a good impression towards cats, but he did make friends that massive tiger from the circus when he, Sakura, Rock Lee, and Kakashi were escorting Hikaru and his father back in his land all those years ago. That cat was way more dangerous than Tora but he got along with that one just fine.

Isis meowed when he rubbed his hand on her back and he smirked even more as he spoke to the cat.

"You know Isis, compared to the cat Tora I had to find back when I was a kid, you are a saint compared to Tora. Why is that I wonder?"

(("The fact she might be sensing Matatabi's energy chakra from you might help."))

(You want to explain that one to me again Kurama?)

(("Later partner, don't forget that while Isis is not the same as the cats you dealt with back home, she no doubt can sense animal auras, and since Matatabi's chakra is now part of your own, Isis might be sensing faint amounts of it. Plus with your chakra being all warmth, sunshine, and light, it's not surprising that it puts her at ease. The fact that you are on good terms with her owner might also have an effect on her, speaking of which, here she comes now."))

Naruto looked and he whistled even more as he saw that Selina had decided to wear a simple but very classy long sleeved royal blue silk shirt, black leather pants, and comfortable looking high heeled shoes. Her hair was the same as before and he could not help but enjoy the sight as he spoke to her once more.

"You look great Selina-chan, so are you going to tell me what you are doing here?"

Selina smiled and while she could lie to Naruto, she decided not to lie for the time being, she could do that at a later date anyway.

"I was being asked to help provide financial aid for a wildlife organization that was given the task to handle the travel arrangements of some rare White Bengal Tiger cubs from a wild life preserve from Asia to be shown to the public here in L.A, then to Gotham before they get sent back. I decided to be there myself since I wanted to be there to make sure that everything went well, and if anyone wants to harm those cats, then I will be around. I might be on probation, but I am willing to risk it as long as those cubs are safe."

Naruto knew that Selena cared for cats, but this was a real step up the ladder. The White Bengal Tigers were fairly rare and therefore he had no doubt that there would be those who might take the animals and use them for whatever they wanted. And with Selena being a serious animal rights activist and her other persona as Catwoman, there was going to be trouble. However that did beg the question on what was the reason for her breaking into the place earlier and yet not steal anything.

"Okay, considering your love for cats, I can see why you want to see to this sort of thing personally. That still does not answer the question on WHY you decided to come out into the open as Catwoman. You do have a reason for it since you ARE on probation after all right?"

"Oh, I did that to get your attention Hokage, since I have a proposition."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at that and replied calmly.

"What sort of proposition?"

"Why, to help me make sure these cats remain safe while here in L.A of course, this is YOUR city after all. And since you understand some of my more grey traits and you don't seem bothered by it, I figured asking for your help is a better idea than gunning it alone. LA does have a reputation you know. Not as bad as Gotham's for sure, but still a rough and dangerous place."

Naruto raised and eyebrow at that and thought it over, he did not see L.A as HIS city but he could guess why Selina said that. Just as Batman was the guardian of Gotham, and Superman was the guardian of Metropolis, he as the possibly termed hero of the city of L.A would gain that rather odd title. He did not see it that way since he did not interfere if the police could handle things on their own and only helped if he saw that they were in way over their heads. To be asked by Selena to do this was something he did not expect, but he was still wary of Selena and he replied.

"Okay it that is the reason you have, I'll consider helping you, but are you sure that this is the ONLY reason you're here? I am going to have a lot on my hands if you decide to take up residence here in L.A and start doing your act of being Catwoman Selina-chan. I don't mind the company really but if you start robbing the people here left and right they might start wondering why you are here and WHY I am not dealing with you."

Selina nodded with a smirk and replied.

"No worries there yet Stein, I am still going back to Gotham, I happen to like it there and I'm not all that sure that I am going to move out. Batman and all the other things I have to deal with there are tolerable to me and also to Isis. Besides, if I want to move here and start over, you will be the very first to know."

Naruto groaned mentally at that and ignored the amused laugh made by his silent partner Kurama. But he did admit that maybe if that did happen Batman would have less to deal with and he was going to deal with the slack of Selina's antics. And he did recall that he enjoyed needling Selina and also flirting with her when they were able to meet one another, namely during that time in Gotham.

"I take it you are going to try and flirt with me while trying to avoid being caught? Great, if the news people catch you and me running over the buildings and flirting at the same time while I am trying to stop you from robbing people, it's really going to make things interesting. Plus it will definitely spice things up around here in L.A if the people find out that Catwoman decided to take up residence here. Not that I mind really, but remember Selina-chan I don't plan to stop you if you rob the corrupt and the criminal of their ill gotten wealth, it only becomes an issue if you start robbing people who work hard for their money and prizes."

Selina laughed at that and nodded as she took out the slip of paper that had address of the cats' next showing area.

"All right, I'll make sure to keep things between us a secret. The cats will be moving to another area of L.A later so having you nearby will help. Can you be there at nine in the morning at this address?"

Naruto looked at the slip of paper and nodded.

"I can make it, the question in my mind is if you are going to have company apart from me, I can bet that since the police no doubt know of you're…other identity they would have people watching you."

Selina nodded at that as she replied that some Gotham Police officers in plain clothes were there and the LAPD were going to loan some of their own plain clothed officers to watch her. That and the route she had given him was enough to make him relax. After a while, he got up and left as he had to go back on patrol, but not before Selina asking him what exactly did he do with the pictures. The blonde Shinobi casually replied to that with a teasing tone.

"What does any red blooded young man do with such pictures, namely the ones with you in a swim suit? It boggles the mind."

Selina shook her head and frowned slightly.

"You really are a pervert at times."

"That coming from a lady who dresses up in tight leather that shows off a gorgeous figure, fights like a tigress, and seduces men to lower their guard so she could rob them blind? Kind of ironic you would call me a pervert when I can bet just about every guy who met you as Catwoman, good or otherwise loves to possibly ogle you in that getup and have who knows what sort of fantasies in the back of their heads. They'd have to be eunuchs or have an utterly unheard of fear and hatred of women NOT to get attracted and possibly have perverted fantasies about you in the garb Selina-chan. Don't worry though, the pictures are all safe with me and I have NOT once used them outside for my own personal viewing entertainment."

"Are you telling me the truth?"

"I swear on my ninja way of life and code of honor, none of those pictures have left my side. Besides, why the heck would I tell anyone that I have them?"

…

In Naruto's new home…

Naruto sighed as he drove his SUV back into his home and he was pleased to finally be home. He had skip lunch since after finally agreeing to Selina's request for his help tomorrow, he had to help deal with another incident involving several gang members fighting one another while some innocent people were caught in the crossfire. The police managed to move in but the people caught there were pinned and police could not get to them. He helped them out with his Jutsu to get the people out and help subdue the gangs alongside the police.

He also used his healing Jutsu again on some of the cops and the innocent bystanders. He soon decided to call it a day and headed away and got back safely to the Waynetech warehouse where his vehicle was being stored away. But not before he moved through several buildings and used Henge to lose any potential pursuers on his tail. Once he got back, he reverted to his disguise and soon got out of his Hokage garb and got dressed in the same clothes he had worn before which were still in mint condition though his Hokage uniform needed to be cleaned later. He checked his laptop and soon got the data he needed with his portable Internet USB drive and locked it down while placing aside his pay into the scroll along with his Hokage gear.

Once he did his rounds, he took out his keys and drove home, all the while not raising the attention of the police who were doing their job. One such task naturally involved keeping an eye out for him, or rather him when he was the Hokage. As soon as he got himself into his house, his senses warned him he was not alone. That was enough to make him grab a kunai and move slowly into his home, hoping to find out just who had managed to get into his house. As he got into the house and moved in silently, he got to the hall and readied himself, only to place down his weapon in surprise.

"Surprise!"

Naruto raised his eyebrows and smiled at the team he was now part of, there was Hawkgirl, Diana, Flash, J'onn, Green Lantern, and Superman, the only one missing was Batman, but he did not mind. Judging from his foray into Gotham before, the guy was going to be busy keeping his home city from being taken over by gangs and whatnot. He smiled at the action though he could tell that both Diana and Hawkgirl were not too good with the situation, he directed his attention to Green Lantern or GL as Flash called him and replied

"This is a surprise, I didn't think that you would be willing to hang out here with me."

Green Lantern shrugged at that and replied.

"It was a slow day…anyway, never been to L.A."

Naruto smirked a bit at that but he was very happy that his team paid him a visit in his place as he relaxed a lot more now that he was assured that the people here were not the enemy. That did happen back home but it had been some time now and he was naturally pleased that he was going to have company in his house. Diana was smiling a bit and gave him a package of fresh food. The food was fish, beef, chicken, vegetables and some types of bread.

"Sorry about the gift's appearance Hokage but considering what I saw in your old place, I figured getting you some fresh food would be better before the cooked food was brought in."

Naruto grinned and replied with enthusiasm, in truth he had not gotten the chance to buy supplies this morning so having this package brought in was great. Plus he could use it to cook some food for later.

"Thanks, Diana-hime, I learned to never turn down a gift in good faith and coming from a princess with the beauty to match is a plus. I hope to repay you in kind when you decide to find a place to stay in yourself."

The Amazon smiled at that and nodded though she did find the praise to her looks as interesting, for now she took the time to admire the oriental look of the house. Having lived in an island which relied on Greek architecture for a long time in all of it's building, seeing the new construction methods was indeed an interesting experience.

Her sister Cassia who was a skilled stone mason and one of the sister tasked to building structures back home would have been interested in this place.

Superman smiled in amusement and took out a large basket, inside was a collection of his adopted mother's cooking. He had told her and his adopted father that he had planned to visit a friend of his and since it was his house warming party some food was in order. Naturally Martha Kent pitched in and here were the results and he had no doubt that the others brought their own selection of food as they all headed to the dining area.

…

Later…

Naruto dug into the home baked apple pie from Clark's basket and smiled warmly as he placed the spoon down as he spoke.

"Man…that was great! I have never had apple pie THIS good before. You're mother's an awesome cook Superman!"

Clark laughed at that as he dug into his own serving of pie and replied.

"Yep, mom always knew her way around the kitchen, you should see how she used to make turkey for Thanksgiving."

Naruto smiled at the thought as he and the others were digging in as Naruto decided to play some simple music to help make the atmosphere better. He skipped playing any of his rock and Japanese music collection since he had no idea on the music tastes of his friends. So he settled on some slow jazz music that one of his co-workers gave him.

"I'll keep that in mind, anyway, if you see her, tell her I am very grateful."

The heroes with them were also enjoying the food and as soon as they were done with the pie, Flash decided to give his contributions as well.

"Here, got these pizza from my favorite place in Central City, don't know if you guys had pizza back there where you came from Hokage, but this should be good."

Naruto opened the box and the smell of pizza soon hit his senses and he took out a good sized slice of it. He had not tried pizza yet since he was not all that familiar with them. But now that he took a bite, the taste was definitely interesting.

"Whoa…nice, I still like ramen but this pizza is definitely new to me."

"Yep, you want some hot sauce with that?"

The second Naruto heard that he paled and shook his head.

"No! I'm good!"

"Aw come on Hokage, it's not that bad."

Naruto however shook his head and replied as calmly as he could though he was sweating a bit, a first for the heroes since Naruto looked almost…afraid of hot sauce.

"No thanks Flash, I appreciate the offer, but after eating the Curry of Lifer back home, there's no way I am eating anything remotely spicy."

That got the attention of the speedster and he was not the only one as Diana spoke.

"What is this Curry of Life you speak of Hokage?"

Naruto sighed and decided to explain some of his past and began to tell the League heroes about the mission that got him working with his friend Rock Lee or Bushy Brows as he called him, his future cousin in law Neji and Neji's future wife Tenten. This mission got him introduced to the Curry of Life and another pain in the neck when he was a kid, the former Mist Seven Swordsman Raiga.

Superman was aghast at what he and the others learned of this Raiga fellow, sure he had seen some crazy things in his day, and faced many alien foes, Darksied being the most difficult to deal with. But that was not enough to make him immune to feeling disgusted by the actions of people who treated lives like toys.

"You mean this Raiga buried people alive?"

"Yep, he thought he was doing them a public service or something, shows how off the rails he was. But he was no sap either or a run of the mill kind of loon. He was one of the Mist Seven Swordsmen and these guys are bad news in the ninja world back home."

"How so?"

"They all are highly skilled warriors who wield some very powerful swords in the day, they also happened to be the elite arm of the Mizukage though for reasons that still confuse the hell out of me, they usually end of being missing nin and terrorists, though only the youngest of them that I knew of in the past did not turn missing Nin and became something of a friend of mine. They all have their teeth made to look like sharks and the same could be said for Raiga. He commanded the sword pair Kiba and they could allow him to channel lightning."

"Channel lightning?"

"Yep, I know this because that guy nearly fried me and light me up like a Christmas tree more than once, he tried to do the same to my partners and even a glancing blow will nearly kill you. I got my introduction to this band when I was still fresh out of Academy since one of their rogue members, Momoichi Zabuza or the Demon of the Mist came to foul up my team's first mission."

He described the deceased Jonin ranked Swordsman to the others and the League were listening intently and J'onn spoke next as he had to accept that the image of the Hokage at so young an age facing off against such a brutal fighter was hardly healthy.

"You actually faced this man in combat?"

"Not too much but the time that I did, I can say that he was nasty, that massive horse cleaving sword of his was scary as hell when I was a kid. I could not figure out how he managed to carry that massive horse cleaving sword of his but there was no way I was going to find out. The other swordsman I crossed paths with before I met Raiga on that mission was Kisame, and that guy was really scary, he actually LOOKED like a humanoid shark. Blue skin, shark like eyes, gills on his neck and some on his face, and the teeth only added to the whole picture, couple that with Samehada and you are really going to think that he's a real shark."

"Samehada? What is that?"

Naruto faced Hawkgirl and spoke calmly.

"Think of a sword wrapped up in bandages, but when you remove it, it's covered in massive shark scales that are all razor sharp and it does not cut, it shreds. Plus it can take some serious punishment and it even eats chakra. A glancing blow from that takes away a good amount of chakra and that thing loves to eat it."

"Eat? What do you mean eat?"

"It's a living sword Hawkgirl-san, first time I saw Kisame, I tried to use…my special chakra, that Kisame guy just swiped Samehada at me and it took my chakra, and it was actually moving around like a predator digesting a meal. Apparently it chooses it's master if the chakra the guy or gal gives whets it's appetite. Anyway, That's one thing story for another time, you wanted to know just what this Curry of Life stuff is right?"

As they nodded Naruto began to tell them of how Lee told them of the place where he had been revived by the Curry of Life. And what happened to them when they and the clients finally tried the stuff…and the results afterwards.

Flash burst out in laughter as Naruto recounted that time he had been with his friends and ate that Curry of Life and the others even raised eyebrows at that.

Superman commented on that incident when he finished the story when they were shown the new and improved Curry of Life.

"How could your friend manage to eat something THAT spicy?"

Naruto grinned at that and replied.

"Never really knew how Old Bushy Brows could stomach that stuff, but I got to say I was terrified out of my wits when his face turned into a prune and he was so red I thought he was going to pass out. I mean…all I and everyone else saw on the table were plates of rice covered in thick, hot, boiling black stuff with lumps in it! Plus one heck of a smell that was both weirdly appetizing and scary to boot."

"When he began to eat like mad and also praise it we tried it. Bad idea, I swear my entire body was on fire and my tongue felt like it was on the receiving end of a Fire Jutsu blast! How we managed to get ourselves to even stand up after our first taste was a gift from the Kami. And when I got stuffed with a spoon full of the stuff by Tenten to wake me up after Raiga knocked me out, I swear I was literally breathing fire!"

"And you should have seen the new version of that Curry! It was the REDDEST curry I had ever seen in my life! I swore my eyes were burning just by looking at it, and there was no way I was eating that. We all had to drag Bushy Brows away from it as fast as we could before he tried it and I was flatly refusing to not even mention it again."

"However…after some time, only the Kami know why, I caved in to Bushy Brow's suggestion to try it, we both went back to the restaurant and I ate it."

Diana was wide eyed at that and replied with concern. She did not have any fear but the description of this Curry of Life was a bit…disconcerting.

"You ate it…what happened to you?"

Naruto groaned and took a moment to compose himself and soon spoke.

"I obviously lived Diana-hime…but I had to be bed ridden for at least two weeks and ALL my taste-buds were scarred for a month. Even the TINIEST drop of the weakest hot sauce felt like my tongue was going to turn into ash! That's why I swear off hot sauce on ANY dish no matter what anyone said. Even if I fully recovered that incident scarred me for life."

The League took it in and after some more discussions and sharing of food and drink, they decided to take it slow. Apart from apple pie, Martha Kent had also prepared sour dough bread with butter and jam, roast beef, sweet corn, black berry muffins, and also roasted turkey. Diana's other surprise was some Greek food that while being vegetables was actually pretty good, Green Lantern's own gift was some cold drinks and also some other food times he enjoyed to add to the party and Flash's own supply of food helped. J'onn soon tried some of John's gifts, that being Oreo cookies and actually liked it.

After a few more hours, it was finally going to be night time, the heroes cleaned up and soon all of the other League members left Naruto as he decided to pack away any of the left over food and use it for the next day. So that way he could to at the very least cut down on the need to buy supplies.

…

Night time…

Naruto yawned a bit as he walked into the garden to check on his plants and make sure that they were watered. But as he got there, he was a bit amused to see the BIGGEST rose he had ever seen suddenly come out from the ground. The thing soon opened up and there was none other than Pamela Isley who was still dressed in her killer getup and she seemed to be a more…stable mood. The Hokage could not help but wonder just what she was doing here and also heap praises on the Kami that none of the other League members were still in his house.

He'd have a hell of a time explaining WHY he had a well recorded villainess in his house of all things. And he did not even want to guess what Batman's reaction would be, which was why he made darn sure to keep this meeting to himself.

"All right Ivy-chan, I have a question, how did you find me?"

The redhead smiled as she got off the rose and headed towards the blonde and replied.

"Oh I have my ways, I did learn that you are here in L.A and after I decided to chat with the plants here, they directed me to this place. Remember, I can speak to plants after all Hokage."

"Judging by how we met, I can understand that, anyway, there's the question of WHY are you here? You can bet ten to one Batman is going to be very curious where you disappeared to. And he's going to make my life hell if he found out you're hanging out with me."

Pamela smiled a bit as she knew just what Naruto was driving at, after all, she had done a lot of things that did not make her the least bit friendly in the eyes of the Dark Knight.

"Oh, so maybe I could convince you to protect me from him, hmmm?"

Pamela moved over and began to rub her more and well formed and endowed body on the blonde Shinobi and Naruto had to admit that he was being tempted. Pamela apparently was trying to use her physical charms and he could smell the pheromones that she was releasing to sway his mind. If he did not have Kurama in him, his years of experience, and his more than interesting married life, he would have had a hard time resisting Ivy's combined assault on his manhood.

That did not mean he was not enjoying it though, but like most things, he had to pull the plug on this one before it got out of hand.

"Sorry Ivy-chan, I REALLY enjoy your company, but not to the point that I fight Batman for you, I happen to respect him and with me and him being on the same team now, that can cause problems, which I do not need."

Ivy frowned at that and Naruto chuckled as he rubbed his hands on her cheek as he replied.

"Look, I'll plead your case for you if you like before him, but I doubt he'd listen since your track record is not too convincing. I will even protect you but only IF you haven't done anything that harms innocent people. You remember what we talked about when we met after all right? If you do that, then you and I are enemies, if not, then I will not fight you and even help you as long as you don't kill indiscriminately. And don't forget Ivy-chan, I am immune to your poisons and I am not easily swayed by your pheromones, though that does not mean I don't enjoy the attempt."

Ivy smirked at that and nodded.

"All right, at least you say what you mean even if I see you're looking at my breasts."

"They are a nice pair after all so can you blame me Ivy-chan? And besides, unlike most if not all men I CAN touch them without getting killed."

Ivy blushed at that and Naruto was amused as he ushered her into his home and decided to see if he had some vegetables and food that Ivy Liked. Ivy took in the place and had to admit that it actually felt…nice to be in a house that seemed to be more at peace with nature. She might now show it, but she disliked being in a place where there was not much connection to nature, she only tolerated places like warehouses and factories so that she could make her move.

Here, this place was a bit more comforting than most, she soon placed that aside as Naruto got some glasses and had cool water and fruit juice, as well as some good salad that was left over. Ivy decided not to do anything since she was still intrigued by the blonde Shinobi and decided not to foul up this chance to figure out what made him tick. Naruto seemed to notice that and decided to play it cool with Ivy. After a few minutes of drinking and eating, Ivy decided to ask him something.

"Do you remember what we talked about back in Gotham?"

"Yeah I do, apart from other things."

Ivy blushed a bit more but shook her head and replied as seriously as she could.

"I am dead serious here Hokage, I am not entirely sold on it, but I need to know that you plan to follow through with what you said. You helped me for sure, but that was only once, so I'm not going to let just one instance of you helping tell me to trust you. I'm not going to suddenly change into a different person overnight after all. My life is not exactly the kind that had a happy period and when I did have them, they never lasted long anyway. So I want to know if you plan to keep your promise."

Naruto could tell that she was being serious about what she said and he had to tell her that he was also very serious about it. He placed down the glass and looked Pamela Isley right in the eye and gave her a very serious look before speaking with the authoritative tone he had developed in his time as Hokage back home.

"Ivy-chan, when I give my word to someone I keep it. I would not have made it to being who I am if I did otherwise so you don't have to worry about it. If I say I am going to help you as long as you do not kill anyone unless you are defending yourself, then I will do it. I am a ninja and a ninja's word of honor to someone he helps is not going to be broken, dattebayo!"

Ivy looked at Naruto and could see that he was actually being very serious and while not yet willing to change, she was beginning to feel that perhaps he was someone she could trust. The only other person who she trusted was Harley who ran with the Joker so that was saying something considering who Harley happened to follow and have an obsession with. How the woman who was very intelligent and capable of better things could stomach working with that nut of a clown boggled her.

"All right you do sound serious and from the looks on your face, you are serious, but what's with the word that came afterwards?"

Naruto gave a sheepish look and replied.

"Just a verbal tick I had for a long time, no need to concern yourself with it. And that promise of keeping my word also extends to my OTHER offer Ivy-chan. You want me to prove that to you again? I really hope that you will say yes Ivy-chan since what we did there after that factory was closed was only the…tip of the rosebud if that metaphor works for you."

Ivy blushed once more as she recalled the….very interesting time she had with the blonde Shinobi when they dealt with the factory. She had actually dared him to prove that he was dead serious about the other side of his offer. The one that dealt with him helping her appreciate being a woman in a physical fashion. And boy did he deliver the goods when it counted! She had to admit that it had not been for the fact that they were in an area where no one in Gotham's poorest would go, they would have gotten QUITE the show. But the two of them never made it to that stage of the whole affair due to the fact that she still had doubts. Now however she was quite eager to see if he was going to follow through.

"If I agreed, what do you have in mind?"

Naruto smiled in a very foxy fashion and directed Ivy's attention to her mode of transportation.

"Oh I don't know…the moon looks really nice tonight, the air smells clean and fresh, and the weather is nice if a bit chilly. And that is one big flower over there, bed sized from the looks of it."

…

(**Originally there was supposed to be a short but strong lemon scene here, but with the crackdown going on, I decided to cancel that. But let me describe the whole scene again, there's a large rose in Naruto's garden. Large and strong enough to serve as a bed and it's safe unlike that one that was in the films and series, it's the middle of the night, and Naruto is going to take things further with Ivy. Use your imagination for this one, that should not be too hard, just use my lemon stories as material.**)

…

Pamela Isley lay back on the rose that she had been riding on as she was still trying to recover from what had just happened between her and Naruto. Her face was red, covered in sweat as well as her body which was stripped naked, her heart was beating fast, and she was still recovering from the MORE than intense few hours to midnight. When she had been changed by the chemicals that gave her the powers she had today, she thought that the process would eventually make her more plant than human, and in turn she would eventually forget what being a woman with a man felt like.

But after this night…this was something that she was not going to forget at all or the way that the Hokage had made her enjoy it. She turned to see Naruto looking at her, also bare of his clothes and in the same boat as she was. But he smiled and gently touched her face from the side of her head to her lips and she could not help but feel her body stir at the sight of him like this and recalling what they had done.

And she had to admit that he looked….delicious the way he was in the moonlight.

"I take it no one ever said to you that you look like a really radiant goddess like this in moonlight huh Ivy-chan?"

That made Pamela blush as she looked away a bit, much to Naruto's amusement as he spoke.

"And you look even more attractive when you blush like that."

The woman looked back at him and spoke to him.

"How…"

"Pardon?"

"You look young, but what you did to me…there's no way that any young man could know HOW to do those things. How do you know how to do all of that?"

"Why? Don't tell me your disappointed with my performance Ivy-chan, that hurts my manly pride you know."

"I'm not complaining…just…wondering how you know those things. There's no way you learned all that overnight."

Naruto gave a slightly sad look and answered her, he did not want to reveal everything right off the bat, but decided to give a vague but hopefully convincing reason.

"You know what I said to you before about me not being your average baseline human? This is one of the reasons, I am actually a lot older than I look, I might look like a teen or young adult, but in truth I am a lot older. And that gives you a certain level of time in learning things. You could say that I might end up being able to live for a very long time, just like you Ivy-chan."

That surprised her as she got up to her elbows and looked Naruto who was deep in thought. Of all the things she had expected to be coming out after their very intense coupling, this was not one of them!

"You mean…you're the same as me?"

"Not exactly I did have children when I was married, more than once which is a story for another time. But it's hard to accept that I outlasted them. Nothing hurts more than to know that the ones you love and know go off to the afterlife while you remain, along with you having to be the one to bury them."

That silenced the woman as she began to take in the information that she had just gotten, she had a suspicion that there was more to it but she said nothing of her thoughts as she looked at him. For a moment he did not look like a teen or a young man. But someone who was older, wiser, and had suffered more than most would have thought or suspected.

Naruto however then replied with a smile.

"But they told me to live a good life and enjoy everything that comes so here I am. I miss them to be sure Ivy-chan, but I doubt they'd like it if I wasted away in grief and boredom. So don't worry about it, enjoy the moment for all it's worth."

The two relaxed a bit more until it was time for her to leave, she still had to deal with her own concerns back in Gotham, and it was going to be a long trip. Still as they both got dressed, Pamela took what she learned to heart and began to think about it all as she got on the rose again and then as she was about to leave she spoke to Naruto

"I'll think about your offer a bit more, all of it and maybe, just maybe, I might take you up on it. But that is only if you are willing to help me."

"I will, but only if you do not endanger innocent lives or kill without considering other options Ivy-chan."

With that, the two of them parted as Ivy was back in the rose as it closed up and soon moved back into the ground

Naruto sighed as he finally went to sleep; he knew that he was going to need all the energy he was going to get. But so far, he was not going to complain, tomorrow was going to sort itself out after all. But he had to admit that this was one day that he was going to have a hard time forgetting. He could only hope that no one else in the League, namely a certain Dark Knight decided to get too nosey in his personal life.

Of course, considering the life Batman lived, he was not going to hold his breath on that matter for too long.

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

There we go, another chapter finished, and soon we get to the part where we deal with the Man Hunters, I will have some plans of my own for this chapter but I will be working on having the missing League members in the episode keep themselves busy on Earth, after all Earth still needs to be protected. And since the only ones there at this point are going to be Naruto, Diana, and Batman, I'll see if this can help Naruto work with his new team and also meet some other people. But that is only after Naruto does what he promised to do for Selina.

Not my best work to be sure, but you can't always get what you want, you just have to make due with what you have.

…

On Carolyn's looks, think of her as resembling a certain Dead or Alive copper haired Kunoichi. Yes, think of her as a slightly more American looking version of Kasumi from Dead or Alive though in this case, Carolyn is not a Kunoichi. And she does own the building as it was passed down to her by her father. Now the relationship between Carolyn and Naruto is more of the line of 'friends with benefits' kind of thing, though in this case, the friend is also your boss. There's some attraction there but it's not to the point of romantic attachment, not yet anyway.

You might not like the implications, and by all rights this should not be allowed in some areas, but this is fanfiction, and at times, truth IS stranger than fiction itself. Their relationship has the respect there since Naruto respects Carolyn as she is quite capable as a boss, and Carolyn respects Naruto due to how they first met and the fact that he does know what he writes about. It's only a bonus that they are in a physical relationship to boot.

I MIGHT change this in the future, but I might not as well, that is all up to me.

As for the meeting between Naruto and Selina, she might or might not move to L.A, and this is all on my choice. And what happened between Naruto and Pamela…will that have an effect in the near future? Possibly, and will it make Pamela become less of a villainess and more of a grey type of character? Maybe it will, after all, even if Naruto did not reveal everything about himself at all yet, his revelation might have surprised Pamela and made her rethink some of her ideas towards the blonde..

You'll just have to wait and see right?

…

On the subject of Isis liking Naruto, I wonder why someone (You know who you are so don't bother denying it) is against the idea of Naruto being friendly with Isis. After all, he might not have been in a good mood with what happened between him and the cat Tora, but he did befriend that massive tiger in the Land of the Crescent Moon movie. And that tiger is WAY more dangerous than that fat feline owned by the wife of the Feudal Lord.

Besides, Naruto's already matured and he also happens to have some of the chakra left behind by Matatabi the two tailed Fire Cat, which no doubt has mixed tiny portions of itself in his own chakra. And that could have a slightly calming effect on other felines that could sense it. And to me it's a way to allow Selena to get close to Naruto since Isis is a good character judge. It's something I loved to try so I did not see anything wrong with it.

…

On the subject of the Japanese artists, as you can see I did not place them there to show off my supposed 'fantasy'. These artists happen to be the very SAME artists who made all the opening, action, and ending songs for all of the Naruto and Naruto Shippuden episodes as well as the movies. Why no one picked up on that now is beyond me, I do like anime songs and I use them to help me create my battle scenes for my stories but I planned this way ahead of time. For the guy who claimed that I was injecting my own fantasies into this story, hate to bust your bubble dude, but everything I write in the story, I write for a reason.

So let's leave it that.

…

I recently got wind of what has been happening in the website about the administrators removing stories and banning accounts from the site due to not following content rules. I already signed a petition for the reinstatement of the MA Rating with stricter security protocols and commands but I guess I have to say some stuff about how this affects me.

I was there on September 2002 when the website cracked down HARD on so many fan-fiction stories that were in the NC-17 rating back in the day. I was still in college and needless to say I was shocked at how come so much material and authors just upped and left. I was only seventeen then so it completely stonewalled me since some stories were actually pretty darn good in those days. I can understand now why it happened, but I at the time thought that shouldn't it be better to have a stricter form of security to allow writers to block readers who are not at the level for stories like that?

I mean today we do have stricter security measures for this after all right? But I also have to look at a different POV, and it has nothing to do with those guys and gals who are witch hunting people right now, claiming we're violating the rules. I don't buy into their beliefs period and I am disgusted by the self righteous attitude and actions they do, but the POV I speak of is that I have seen computer shops in my country get their licenses revoked because they do not follow the rules of not allowing minors to enter computer shops for gaming during class hours.

I was not in such a situation since while I was a gaming nut (and still am) I usually did my gaming when I was not having classes and did most of it on weekends. But I can understand the reasoning behind the closing of some shops and the loss of their license. The same could be said for this site in a sense since if they did not lock down hard on the authors at the time, there would have been trouble.

But that was ten years ago, and today things are different so we should at the very least have a better sense of doing things. If the site has stricter ways of preventing minors from reading MA material then that is all the better for everyone since we don't have to worry about traumatizing some poor kid. Though I have a hard time believing that now since even at a young age, kids are exposed to far WORSE things in real life than they are in the internet at times. And there IS sex-education classes nowadays right?

To me, it would be fair if the administrators at the very least brought back the MA rating system and give it better security functions so they do not have to see so many good writers pack up and leave.

They are supposed to run a website that allows writers to unleash their imagination right? Is it our fault that our imaginations happen to be in the area of MA material? I'm already old enough so it does not bother me too much so why do we have to be told we can't write our material anymore if it is what we want to write?

…

I personally will stay on in this website and continue to write my stories because it is what I love to do. I don't get paid ONE single cent of ANY currency for every chapter I make yet I do not care, I'm not here for the money, I am here because I love to do this. I am not the best writer and I make mistakes, even do repetition a number of times, I will admit to that. I am just a man with flaws like any other person. Writing is a passion I have been using for a long time and I love to do it, otherwise if I did not, I would have quit writing stories like this a LONG time ago, I stay awake a lot to do these chapters, I lose valuable sleep, I get sick doing the chapters I am posting right now. I burn myself out like a light trying to make good scenes the way I want to do them. I have to deal with being reprimanded for missing out on good things all because I want to write my chapters.

Why?

Because I WANT and I LOVE to do what I do…that is why.

If the petition works out, then I am happy, if it does not, I will stay on and keep writing to show that even if I eventually do get yanked from this site, I am not going down without a fight. There's a reason I took the pen name Freedom Guard after all you know apart from honoring a game franchise I loved as a kid.

And that is to show that the freedom to write is something I am happy to have and I will not let that be taken from me. If the site administrators eventually have me removed if the petition fails, then I will pack up and leave and I will never come back. Because I will not condone a site that does not deliver on their promise, because who would? If this site claims to be there to let us unleash our imagination, then now is the rime to prove it.

…

See you on the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 10

Justice League: Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Naruto or Justice League don't get on my case for it okay?

Chapter 6

Part 1

Home Guards…and Guests…

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

In Los Angeles…

Naruto was currently wearing his full Hokage garb along with his mask as he moved over to keep any eye on the convoy that he knew that Selina was watching over. While he was not all that sold on the idea of L.A being HIS city, he decided not to make much of the deal for now. So far no one had decided to drop by and make things difficult for him and Selina, but until the big predatory cats left the city, then he had to keep his word.

Besides as far as he could feel using Senjutsu, there were not that many crimes that were happening all over the city that demanded his attention The police was able to handle the worst of it so he had little reason to come in and help them. The concern he had for now was to help Selina in keeping the cats safe until they left L.A. As he moved along with the convoy, he also made sure to keep his eyes and ears open.

He sensed that Selina was there in the group and he was happy that a the very least she was not making any moves that would indicate to him that she was breaking her word to him. That was a nice thing since the last thing he wanted was to get into a fight with a drop dead gorgeous woman who he might or might not have the hots for. As he followed the convoy, he made sure to try and keep an eye on the police radio. He had spent some time learning all of this technology stuff and he was pleased to find a way to hack into a security system, namely the kind used by the police. He used his Kage Bunshin to learn how to do the whole hacking thing properly and now he could keep track of things.

That and reading maps of the city certainly helped and in his right ear was the radio be learned on how to build from parts he bought with his money. For now it seemed that the police had the city covered so he did not have to worry all that much just yet. He also was pleased to know that the police had everything under their control, though he knew of course that there were places that were too dangerous where only the best cops were sent. He had not gone there directly yet but he was ready to go there when he had to do so.

As he watched the convoy, Kurama decided to speak to him.

(("Looks like our cat loving guest is keeping true to her word, huh partner?"))

(Looks that way, and for that I am thankful, that convoy should be out of the city soon and that is going to be nice for you and me.)

(("Maybe, but at the moment I have no doubt we're going to have company of our own soon enough."))

Naruto mentally nodded as he followed the convoy while keeping an ear open on the latest news coming in from the radio he had in his ear. The technology here was good and in some ways, it was a lot better than some of the technology that he had seen back home. He sensed that there was no danger to the convoy right about now as he carried on with the convoy escorting job. All the while using his Senjutsu to locate Selina and make sure that she was not making any moves that could be considered dangerous.

The good news for him was that Selina Kyle was true to her word and kept herself from causing trouble and so far, none of the police reported that she had gone rogue on him. And right now it seemed that no one was doing anything that would be considered an attack on the cats themselves.

…

Hours later…

Naruto was on top of a nearby tower and was currently enjoying a good deal of ramen that he bought from the very same ramen shop that he worked in before. He naturally used his Henge as he was still in costume and when he paid for his ramen and here he was. The food was good and helped him relax as he looked over the city while sticking himself to the wall of the high rise building with his chakra. Most people would have been scared out of their wits at seeing him like this, and eating ramen no less, but the height prevented him from being spotted easily.

And with his use of chakra, he had no problems keeping himself on the side of the building sitting down. The cooler air up here was all right, but it was also a bit of a challenge NOT to spill any of the ramen for him. But he liked challenges so there was no reason for him to change his mind. He sorely missed Teuchi and Ayame's cooking styles but he did not mind it as he was able to enjoy eating ramen.

Selina had met up with him earlier and she was happy that no one had tried to harm the tigers and she was happy that he had kept his word to her. This was a good thing in Naruto's mind since she had not tried to rob anyone here in L.A since this would have been a bit of a problem. The blonde thief and animal activist kissed him on the lips before she left, and he knew that she did not rob him at all when she did that. And soon he moved out to go grab something to eat for all the time she spent watching the tigers, hence he was here eating.

As soon as he was done eating, he collected the bowls and placed them away into a scroll to take them back to the shop and head back to duty. Moving down to the lowest level of the building he was on, he used his kunai with the metal string to begin moving to the shop. Leaping with the use of only the slightest of his chakra to the buildings further away and running on the walls without problems until he arrived at the ship. Like before he dropped down into the shadows of the alleys, made sure that he was alone, used his Henge and came back in the same disguise he used to purchase the ramen and give the bowls back before leaving.

Once clear, he dropped his Henge and climbed back to the buildings, moving about to sense the city's people and watching out for possible danger. After doing a sweep and being aided by his Kage Bunshin to scan the city, finding not too many dangers and events, he decided to tap into the communication system device handed to him by Batman in order to keep himself up to date on what else the other members of the League were doing. But as he did so to call Superman, he was quick to notice that the Kryptonian apparently was not alone.

"Yes?"

"Superman, why do I hear explosions out in the background? Just what the heck is going on over there?"

"Long story short Hokage, several machines are here for John and they don't seem to want to talk!"

Naruto heard a clang and that was followed by the sound of something akin to someone punching metal knew that it meant that Superman hi whatever it was attacking him. He had no idea what was going on but decided not to waste time in getting answers from the man via communications.

"Superman! You still have that kunai I gave you?"

"Yeah!"

"Good! Toss that Kunai to the ground, I am on my way now!"

…

And sure enough, Naruto used the Hirahsin Jutsu of his father to home in on the kunai that he had given Superman and he quickly found himself in what looked like a warzone. The blonde

Naruto dodged the incoming weapons fire and looked at the flying man who was made out of metal before him. It acted like that Metallo guy he fought with before in Metropolis when he was still not part of the League. But unlike the metallic wiseass he fought with before, this one was about as talkative as Batman and was less concerned with the massive property damage that he was unleashing. He quickly took some of his shuriken and imbued them with his Wind Chakra and tossed the weapons at the one he was fighting. Apparently the machine being did not think that the weapons were effective and made no attempt to block them. That however was a mistake as the Chakra enhanced weapons did hit with considerable force due to the potent energy Naruto used and they also cut into the metal.

The cuts were not by much, but they were enough to convince the machine like being that he was not someone who could be ignored. He quickly took out one of his swords and quickly channeled his chakra and then focused his Wind Chakra into the blade and attacked, unleashing a blast of chakra at the machine. The machine being dodged the first attack, but Naruto expected that and had fired out one of his father Minato's signature tri-blade kunai and used the Hirashin to come in close, while in Senjutsu mode and landed a haymaker of a punch into the face of the machine.

The blow sent it flying back a ways before Naruto would made several hand seals and unleashed his next Jutsu. That move was done at the same time that the other members of the League, were ready to fight back.

But just as the attacking heroes and the new found machine enemies, someone decided to get involved. And it was none other than Green Lantern John Stewart himself, but instead of helping fight the new arrivals who came for him, he actually stopped the others and surrendered himself to them. This confused the hell out of the other others, even more so for Naruto.

…

In the Watch Tower…

As the rest of the League came to the tower, with him using a Hirashin Jutsu to enter the place and them using the Javelin to get up there, they decided that now was the right time to find out what was going on. However, it was here that Batman brought to their attention that they could not just pack up and leave Earth alone. If their rogues found out that they were not around, then there was going to be no telling just what was going to happen.

Naruto thought about it greatly and wondered if he should go with the team to help free Lantern from him being accused of a crime he did not commit. But on the other hand, there was no telling what could happen if he went with them. The only ones who could not go were Wonder Woman, and obviously Batman since that would leave Earth defenseless as well as leave Gotham alone. Kurama also spoke to him and the nine tailed fox sensed that John did have a great deal of guilt over something.

Still both he and Kurama doubted that the Green Lantern was a criminal. They did not know the Green Lantern Corps all that well but if what they learned about them was true, the idea of them taking a criminal into their ranks was about as likely as Orochimaru turning over a new leaf and ending his love for power. The snake summoning bastard was no longer alive, he and Kurama made damn sure of that, but the lessons he learned when it came to dealing with him was still there, along with getting rid of Madara and Obito.

John struck Naruto as a good man at heart despite his 'stick stuck up my ass' attitude, he was honest about his thoughts and there was no question about his sense of responsibility. And not to mention that as far as he sensed, he was also dedicated to protecting others, similar to a cop which he was in the galactic sense and being a marine as well.

Still, the guy went willingly with the Man Hunters so there must be SOMETHING going on here that he was not seeing.

But would he risk leaving Earth alone while all the heavy hitters of their team were out and off to another part of the galaxy?

After a moment or two, he decided to stay behind.

"Sorry Superman, but with you guys leaving Earth behind, this leaves the League short handed, we're going to have to find others who can help pick up the slack until you guys get back here after freeing Lantern. Plus even if I don't have a 'rogue's gallery' as you guys, I don't like the idea of leaving LA alone. It's got enough problems as it is and the last thing it needs are some super powered villains taking root while I wasn't looking."

…

Superman nodded in agreement as he knew that they had to have some backup to help keep the world safe until they got back. If word got out that he left then the villains he dealt with on a regular basis in Metropolis, especially Luthor, would not hesitate to make their move. Still Kara and Irons were there to help but they would need to be helped out in helping to keep the peace. But moving back and forth in different corners of the world would be tough on them and the last thing he wanted was for Kara to wear herself down and become as stressed out as he was.

There was also the fact that there was no telling what other dangers might appear and even if Wonder Woman was here and Batman, they were still going to need help, so having Naruto back on Earth was a good idea, plus there could be others who they could contact in order to help keep Earth safe.

"Good point there Hokage, we'll go ahead and see if we can't clear out John's name. I might not have dealt with the Lanterns long, but I know that they only got those who truly have what it takes to be members in the Corps."

And soon with the plans drawn out, the only members of the League left behind were none other than Batman, Wonder Woman, and Naruto as Batman turned to face them both. He knew that he had a lot of work to do and that was not just in his city, but possibly elsewhere. He would call on Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin to help out as well as ask some of his other known hero associates for help to handle the workload.

He then spoke directly to Naruto and while he was now aware that Naruto was more mature than he actually looked, he spoke sternly.

"If anything happens that can have consequences for the Earth, contact us quickly."

"I will."

…

In L.A..

It was near night time when Naruto got back to L.A and he felt his injuries begin to heal, normally he would have gone home but he decided to go and do one last scan of the city. Namely in the more affluent sector of the city he was unofficially protecting. However, as he summoned Kurama's chakra to sense the flow of the other humans in the area, he was quick to sense that something was amiss. Several chakra signatures suddenly disappeared and were now too weak to be sensed had it not been for his Sage mode.

He tracked it down and soon located the source, apparently in the financial district of L.A, something was going down. And no, it was not the legal kind. The very second he slid into the room in the high rise building where the signatures had been faint earlier, he was greeted by something that he had not expected.

Shuriken…

The blonde Shinobi ducked down as the shuriken came at him and tried to cut into his head, he leaped back afterwards as Tsukiri attacked with her katana with the obvious intent on cutting off his head. Naruto however was not going to let that happen without a fight as he blocked the attack with his armored left arm. The armor he had on gave him the moment to grab his own sword and quickly forced the female fighter away from him as he lashed out with his sword in a reverse grip. Naruto only saw the sight of the stunned and badly hurt guards out of the corner of his eye to now realize that they were the chakra signatures he sensed earlier. Both fighters soon faced one another as Tsukiri spoke once more to the blonde Shinobi who was still holding his sword in a reverse grip.

"You fight like a real ninja."

Naruto gave a snort at that statement.

"That supposed to be compliment lady? Who are you and why are you here?"

"The name's Tsukiri, and I am here for some of the items in that safe, now step aside!"

The Asian assassin tossed a pair of kunai at him and Naruto quickly moved aside and ducked to land a rising kick into Tsukiri's sternum to send her back flying as she flipped and landed on her feet. But as she landed she gave a barely audible grunt of pain at being hit by the blonde Shinobi. That did not mean however that his blow had not given her a good deal of pain in reality.

(For a guy who looks like a teen or early adult, this guy can HIT!)

But Tsukiri was not the kind of quit when she was on a job, oh no she was not. Biting back the pain, she quickly got into her selection of weapons and threw out a number of kunai at the man. Sure the steel used for those cost her some serious bundles of cash, but right now, short term loss did not matter when long term gain was more important. Said long term gain was to naturally end the blonde ninja before he became a real problem.

Naruto turned to see the kunai imbed themselves on the nearby wall and it was enough to tell him that her armorer was good since the steel was well made and certainly not the cheap imitation stuff he'd seen. The blonde turned and blocked another set of shuriken and then moved away as she threw a kunai at him. Only for him to catch it the same way Kakashi had caught those shuriken all those years ago back when he was still the rough and tumble kid he was back in Konoha.

He might not be able to do all the things his beloved sensei did in the time he was alive, but he did learn enough. The action he made did catch the female villain's eye and that convinced Naruto to pour it on. He was not going to use his Jutsu yet since while he could feel that the woman had some good levels of chakra, he could also see that she was not able to do Jutsu the way he could so no sense for him to reveal his Jutsu to Tsukiri. That further convinced him that not many used chakra the way his people did even if they had it. He quickly got the shuriken tossed at him in hand and quickly fired them back at their former owner. Tsukiri actually moved forward and then flipped over the shuriken and soon they traded sword blows with one another.

Naruto moved back and forth, studying the way Tsukiri moved, aware that she could very well be doing the very same thing he was doing right now. He could not help but wonder how she would stake up to Kunoichi who were Kenjutsu experts like Uzuki Yugao and several others in the past. But he ignored that and soon charged at her, Tsukiri soon flipped over her, thinking no doubt that he was getting careless, in reality she was the one who make the careless move.

As soon as she landed, Naruto quickly yanked the near invisible metal wire that he had actually laid on the ground earlier. The wire soon wrapped around Tsukiri's leg and he was able to yank her to the ground and he leaped over her and then over a nearby beam and used it to act as a support and lift the female ninja up into the air.

"I don't think that I will do what you asked. But I will ask what you are after in that safe earlier, I doubt that it's just money alone."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Up to you, but if you don't, I'll just do this the hard way."

The female ninja snorted and Naruto quickly decided to stun her by landing a Lightning chakra covered fist into her face. Not enough to kill her or anything, and the Lightning Chakra was set on a very low level, but the sight of him with a lightning covered fist really caught the woman off guard before he sent her to lala-land. As soon as she was out of commission, Naruto checked her for breathing and a pulse.

Once he was sure that she was actually out cold and not off to death's door, he decided to try using Kurama's chakra to connect to her own chakra network and right into her brain. It was similar to the technique used by the Yamanaka Clan's signature Jutsu, but did not match the same ability. He soon learned what he needed from the now unconscious woman so he checked to make sure that she was still out cold, once assured that she was out cold, he looked for some heavy duty fire hose and a cable of metal.

Even if he did disarm her of any weapons, better not to take chances and make sure she'd have to work for her freedom if she wanted to escape. Once she found some steel wire nearby she tied her up with the fire hose first, and then used the metal cable to restrain her arms and legs. Then assured that she was not looking, he quickly used a Fire Jutsu to melt the ends of the steel cable he twisted into a lump of slag…double sure that she was not going to have an easy time escaping.

Once he was done securing the female ninja, he moved to healing the guards of their injuries. He used his medical training to scan them and begin to treat their injuries. Most had concussions The blonde Shinobi, quickly took out his cellphone and dialed 911 and call the cops.

…

Two days later…

Naruto moved through Los Angeles two days later and he was hoping that he was going to get something of a break. Dealing with the bunch that hired Tsukiri did not take too long and at least he managed to bring them to prison without much trouble. Not to mention that he had been able to get all the records he needed to send this bunch down to the slammer. Though he did wonder just how much they gave Tsukiri to come here in Los Angeles of all places since this was a city that did not have too much to be attractive to the bad guys. The cops were surprised to find him handing them Tsukiri since technically villains of her caliber did not come here to L.A all the time. That hopefully was not going to become some form of trend that he personally had no time for anything like it.

As he did so, he wondered just how John's trial ended back there in space. He personally hoped that the man despite being in his view, having a stick up his ass, was freed. He had heard from Diana that she had been able to stop some people who had attempted to rob a bank in the city of San Francisco, while Batman had enlisted the aid of his old team and had managed to deal with Killer Croc after the mutant super villain managed to escape from them.

The blonde winced at the memory of that crazed maniac who reminded a bit too much of Kisame with the blood lusting nature he had. Good thing that he did not have something similar to Samehada or that would have really freaked him out. He had gone there after the incident a day ago to help heal the injuries. Sure Bruce was not too sold on it at first since he was not too sure about what it might do to him and the others, but after he healed their wounds, he agreed that having Naruto help was all right.

Though he could have sworn that Batgirl actually…moaned a bit at his use of chakra to heal her, it was a half moan to be sure since she clamped her mouth shut before she completed it, but it was a moan. He wondered how the redhead was handling it since both Robin and Nightwing had been teasing her about it non-stop. He did find Batgirl attractive as hell but decided not to press the issue and merely wished her the best when he was done.

…

However, all of his thoughts on the matter went out the window when he sensed something coming. He looked up from the wall of the building he was currently standing on to see what appeared to be a comet of sorts. He looked carefully at it and then stretched out with a bit of Kurama's chakra as well as his Senjutsu and was shocked by what he felt.

(Damn…that is some serious chakra I am sensing, there's no way whatever it is that is coming down here is some hunk of space rock.)

(("No kidding, whatever it is or whoever it is in that flying hunk of rock, has a good deal of chakra in him/her/it so let's be careful."))

(That's the first time you told me to be careful Kurama.)

(("You rather be dead?"))

Naruto shook his head at hat and quickly began to track the object, and he could sense that a lot of people were also looking. He did not need to look down where he was to see that everyone was looking at the incoming fiery mess, with that in mind, he quickly moved to where it was heading. Already from the special bug he had on the police communications network, the police were beating feet to that location, along with SWAT. He had to hurry there however as whoever or whatever had that big a chakra signature and could survive a trip through space like that was anything but human. And if the incoming thing or being was hostile, he was going to have to do his best to restrain it.

…

As soon as he made it to where the fiery mess would land, it landed with explosive results as he set foot on the ground. The police were still a good distance away which to him was a good thing since if the new arrival was like those Imperium, hen they were in trouble. Naruto used his chakra to hold himself into the ground and began to run through the shockwave while using his chakra to create a chakra envelope to protect him. The smoke was there and he moved in, but as he came closer, his honed ninja sensed suddenly began to go off and he quickly leaped back as a wall near to his left in the area was suddenly smashed hard.

The chakra signature he sensed was now on the move, and also was now right in front of him. He tensed himself as the dust from the destroyed wall began to settle down to give him a better view on who the new arrival was. And he did not have to wait long, but he got quite the surprise when the dust cleared out.

Naruto took a good look at the new arrival who had just smashed her way into the nearby city block…which thankfully was not filled with people since it was supposed to be demolished so no bystanders at large. And what he saw was definitely new to him, the figure was definitely humanoid and judging by frame, body build…and uh…bust, was female.

(And damn, what a form…)

He was not joking in the slightest either, sure he had seen his far share of very attractive women back home and here, his boss, Diana, Pamela, Selina, and Shayera to name a few of said women. But this new arrival was definitely blessed with the body and the looks to go with it. Her eyes were deep green, literally and they seemed to be glowing green fire, and her hair would be best described as fiery star red in color. Her skin was orange if one could believe it, and a very NICE hue of orange to boot, and Naruto could not help but stare as the idea of someone having his favorite color as her skin tone was pretty darn new, even more so when one took to account her choice of outfit!

It was purple and was more like clasps of clothing that covered on the essential bits but allowed the alien woman's lush curves, swells, and more to be shown. The muscles she had hardly detracted her beauty at all, instead showed her power and strength as well as her smoking gorgeous looks. She had thigh high boots of the same purple color and had forearm guards as well with some gems on the neck area.

(Think of Starfire's original comics outfit. Sure the new version might be a LOT more appealing, but I can use the new one for later.)

One thing was for sure, if she wanted to get attention from men and women of that particular orientation, then she already had the edge in spades! It took a tremendous effort for him to focus on the more serious aspect of her arrival.

…

The woman apparently was wearing some form of handcuffs that he could easily tell were not the human made kind, but the kind that one normally used to restrain very powerful foes since it reached all the way to her elbows. But on the first glance, the woman hardly looked the kind to be dangerous, with the exception of being dangerously good looking. However, Naruto was no fool and knew that just because a woman had the looks of an angel or a Goddess, that did not mean that she was a good person, and that she was harmless.

Naruto's caution was warranted when the woman looked at him with obviously angry eyes, she snarled at him and began speaking and a language that he could not make heads or tales of. But the very second she raised the restraints on her in a move that he knew was an attack, he understood that and quickly flipped back as she smacked the ground hard with enough force to cause a crater.

(Whoa! She's as strong as Superman or Tsunade-obasan! But whatever those things are made of, they at least make her less likely to move around.)

Naruto quickly got into combat mode and drew his sword from his back, that was a move to ready himself for any attack the woman might throw at him. That however seemed to make the woman all the more annoyed as she began to speak in another language that he could not understand.

"I cannot understand you!"

The language barrier between him and the new arrival was making it hard for him to figure out who she was, but it also made her less than amused as she moved to smash him into the ground. Naruto quickly channeled his chakra into his sword and used it to block the attack coming in to reduce his skull and head into a mess.

CLANG!

The blow was tough and Naruto felt the ground literally crack from the blow, showing that his estimation of her strength was pretty accurate. The good news was that through his training as well as his experiences, made him tougher than the usual, along with Kurama's healing powers, his Uzumaki lineage, and Senjutsu training. But that blow sent shivers of pain through his legs anyway. But he quickly powered up with Senjutsu of his own and quickly pushed the woman off of him and then tried to get a feel of his new found foe.

He sensed that she seriously had a lot of chakra, and her fluctuating emotions seemed to have some form of boosting effect on them. Ninja scholars and even his own friends back in the Academy suspected that emotions at times boosted chakra power, though it could also reverse it due to loss of concentration. So whatever was powering this girl was definitely stronger than normal.

She attacked again, still shouting in a language Naruto had difficulty making heads or tails of. He however was not going to let him strike him twice. He moved away from the blow and launched out a powerful Wind chakra attack to hit her to slow her down. But she moved at the exact moment and the attack he unleashed struck her restraints. That was not enough to destroy them to be sure, but the blow itself had an effect on the manacles, namely near the hands.

The woman screamed out again and to Naruto's surprise, there was a massive glow of green there, and the damaged part of her manacles suddenly broke off. That freed her hands, and also allowed her to start tossing glowing green bolts of energy at him.

"You have GOT TO BE KIDDING!"

Naruto had no time to continue his words as he dodged the now long stream of energy spheres that worked in the same way as bombs or explosive tags. Already the entire area around him was being leveled by this woman. He was happy that at least there was no one here and at least the whole area was pretty much going to be condemned anyway.

As she wrecked even more of the place, he decided that now was the time to step things up.

But then as he tapped into Kurama's chakra for a boost, his sudden transformation into a being of pure fire, or so he looked stopped the woman and she looked at him briefly. Naruto had no idea what was the reason there, but as he focused his chakra on her, he noted that instead of being angry or having killer intent towards him, the girl seemed…scared.

(Scared? What the heck is going on here?)

Naruto's confusion lasted only briefly as he realized that he was sensing other emotions as well, pain, confusion, and anger. Plus he was also sensing that she was merely reacting in self defense before him. This was a risk but he trusted his ability to sense negative emotions due to Kurama's chakra cloak and could tell that this girl was not evil. He placed his sword back into his sheath and tried to show that he meant no harm to her.

It seemed to be working as the alien woman was not either charging at him or powering up another one of those energy bolts. That was a good sign to Naruto as he felt that removing those manacles might be a good way to build bridges between him and the alien woman. He thought it over on what to use and then summoned up a bit of Saiken's chakra to allow him to use briefly the slug Bijuu's chakra type. The blonde shinobi, still in his chakra cloak moved towards her and then did several seals. The woman was confused by this but being near Naruto's cloak which was pure Yang chakra seemed to have a calming effect on her. That was definitely a good thing as he completed the move and began to blow at the manacles.

But instead of air, he was releasing a fine mist of corrosive alkaline liquid that was reinforced by chakra and it seemed to work on the manacles as they began to smoke and break down. He then channeled some of his chakra and then gently began to hit the manacles and soon freed the young woman's arms. He had only released enough of the acid to destroy the manacles and not harm her, and was pleased to know that Saiken's acid did the trick at this point without harming the woman accidentally.

The woman looked at the manacles and then to Naruto who decided to try using gestures instead of words since the language of gestures just MIGHT work here until he figured out what to say to the woman. He gestured to the ruined manacles, placed his hands together and then parted them, hoping to impart that the manacles were weaker now and she could free herself. The woman got it and then pulled her arms apart, and freed herself from the weakened manacles and she seemed to be rather relieved to be free.

Naruto gave a sigh of relief and was even more relieved to sense that the woman was losing her negative emotions from before. Being freed seemed to have a very calming effect on her and for that he was grateful. He was also pleased that at least she had shown no more hostile intent towards him and he finally tried to speak with gestures. But decided to first reveal himself since he was wearing his mask after all.

As soon as he revealed his face, the woman seemed to lose more of her caution and began to look at him with curiosity and followed his movements with intensity. The blonde Shinobi could not help but stare in amusement at the whole thing and he soon spoke to the woman.

"Okay…listen, can you find some way to learn how to speak English or my language?"

The woman cocked her head to the side in the universal gesture that translated to 'I do not understand you.' This made Naruto shake his head once more and he spoke to himself in English.

"Of all the things to happen to me in the span of two days, this was certainly not on the list of what could happen. There has got to be a way for both of us to learn how to communicate."

He then noted that the woman was pointing to her lips and then to his own apparently. That raised his eyebrow and he wondered just what she was trying to tell him.

…

Anything Naruto was about to say was cut short when the undeniably gorgeous orange skinned, red haired, and literally green eyed alien woman gave him a French Kiss! Now Naruto was not the least bit sheltered when it came to the ladies, having been married more than once, and all that, but this was something he was not expecting on a first meeting since being kissed like this by a hot alien woman was NOT part of his experiences. However, he did notice something odd as a portion of his chakra was taken by the kiss made by the woman herself.

That alarmed Naruto as it reminded him of the time that redhead Kunoichi with the tendency to suck the chakra out of people via a kiss grabbed him. Thankfully the second that Kunoichi, Fuen if he recalled her name right made the mistake on drawing in Kurama's still hatred infused chakra and thus had to release him. This woman was doing the same thing, only difference was that he sensed no lethal intent just yet. And the chakra that was taken was actually very little from him so was not in the least bit life threatening.

The kiss lasted for a moment or two more before the woman…or whatever she was finally released him and he looked at her with wide eyes and spoke in his trademark language.

"Whoa! What the heck was that for?! I normally don't mind kissing a drop dead gorgeous lady or being kissed by said lady, but being kissed by someone who tried to flatten me with her bare hands is not that normal!"

The red haired, green eyed, and orange skinned woman tilted her head to the side a bit in an expression of confusion and spoke to him in Japanese.

"Oh? I apologize for that, it is the way we of Tamaranean descent learn languages. I could not understand you and I…apologize for what happened earlier."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, draining one's life force with a kiss was not that new to him, but kissing someone to learn a language? That was a new one. Any other discussion was cut short however when he heard a number of police sirens coming in and with that in mind, he stood up and spoke to the now freed alien woman.

"Look, now is not the time for this to continue, so can we move somewhere else?"

Naruto was relieved that the woman was willing to listen to him and soon he moved further away from the area, but as he was moving from building to building using his chakra, he saw that the woman was actually flying. And to his greater surprise, the woman's hair at the back was actually turning into fire! That only reinforced his desire to find out what he could concerning the woman who was now with him.

(Okay, I definitely need to get some answers here.)

"Hold up…who are you anyway?"

"Oh, my name is Koriand'r or if you wish you can call me Starfire."

"Okay…Starfire, I can work with that for now, my name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."

…

Later…

Naruto and his new found acquaintance were now in the mountains outside of L.A and he was happy for that though they were still a fair distance from his home. This way they did not end up causing more damage than the city was willing to take any more especially after that rather disastrous first meeting. And after what he had seen, he had to admit that the name certainly fits, though he was doing his best not to stare at Starfire's choice of attire. And here Starfire finally told him of what exactly happened to her.

She told him of who her people were and what exactly was the source of her powers, she also explained that she was a member of the royal family of her homeland. Learning about her people was interesting and he could not help but notice how animated she became after she began to talk about her home planet. He listened carefully and raised an eyebrow at some of their cultural practices and then he asked the question on what she was doing here on Earth of all places. He naturally explained the world she was on to her and when it was over, he repeated the question to her.

She was silent for a while longer and even from here Naruto could sense that she was not in the best of moods about that line of discussion. A more serious part of him wanted to get as much information as he could from her right now on the off chance she was going to be followed. But that was balanced by his empathy as he felt that she had her reasons. He did not have to wait long for her answers to his question when she began to fill him on what happened to her people. Namely due to the wars her people dealt with. Even with their desire for peace, her people had to fight and they did that, but suffered badly. It was also when she reluctantly told him of her father's decision and her sister's actions, namely her betrayal of her family and people all because of her unique flaw.

Needless to say the idea of the woman being subjected to such treatment for six years by sadistic scientists, and worse beings…all because her sister had one serious blood rivalry with her pissed Naruto off…A LOT. He asked for more details gently and was actually angered by the fact that Starfire had been abused and raped more than once! The fact that instead of punishing the bastard for trying to defile her sibling despite their history at some point when Koriand'r fought back, Starfire's sister actually punished her for resisting her rapist this time around!

Naruto's anger was getting more intense at this and he could feel Kurama's chakra reacting. Apparently even the Bijuu who was his long time partner found the whole series of circumstances disgusting and abhorrent to him. Starfire later explained how she had tried to free herself and her sister from their latest captor and how her sister acted after she freed her even after all she had done. She then explained that after this she had managed to escape and destroy the tracking device on her manacles so she was not going to be easily found by her trackers.

All she wanted right now was to rest and recuperate before finding some way to avoid those chasing her. Naruto calmed himself and began to think on what he should so with Starfire. It was obvious that despite their rather violent first meeting, Starfire was not the enemy here, in fact she was more the victim and he could sense through Kurama's chakra and through Senjutsu that she was telling him the truth on her current situation.

"And that is how I came here, and how you freed me from my manacles friend Naruto. I apologize for everything…my…life in the hands of my jailors has left me…very much on edge."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and spoke to her seriously while crossing his hands on his chest..

"You're awfully quick to trust me on the get go."

"Get go?"

Naruto shook his head and replied.

"Sorry, figure of speech, human figure of speech. It means instantly. And in this case, I have to ask, why are you so willing to trust me when we just met?"

Starfire through it over and after some time replied.

"I do not sense any malice in you towards me when I was able to sense that power you had used before that made you be covered in fire. And even though I do not know fully why…there is something about you that tells me that you…are a person I can feel safe with. And you were sincere in freeing me and trying to communicate to me without hostile intent. Had I not sensed any of this when I learned your language and when you freed me from the manacles despite our first meeting, I would have fought with you to the death."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that as he could see she meant it all and replied.

"Fair enough…though I am still not too sure about this whole trust the first guy you kissed routine."

Koriand'r could not help but be a bit amused at Naruto as she looked at him. There was…something about him that was truly different. There was a power in him that burned deeply in every part of him, even more so when he used that fiery aura tha actually made him look…beautiful, and that was interesting to the newly liberated Tamaranean. She was very much unused to Earth culture and customs since none of her people had any record of this world. Naruto then spoke to her once more.

"One thing, do you plan to go home?"

With that comment, Starfire's smile faded and she shook her head sadly at this.

"I cannot…I cannot go home."

"What?"

"If I go home, then the truce between my people and the Citadel is rendered null and void. And thus they will attack my people and kill more of them. As long as the truce holds…I cannot return home and I fear that my sister will still seek me out. I will not become her slave or anyone else's anymore. And my home is light-years from here, it would take far too long for me to go back even if I wished it…I am alone here for now."

The sight of the woman being this melancholy made Naruto groan in disgust at the idea of making her sad. He was always weak towards those who suffered, no doubt due to his own past. As he thought it over, he figured that until he found a solution to this problem, the best he could do was provide Starfire some form of refuge. With all her suffering she deserved to be safe, even more so from that psychotic bitch of a sister that treated her like dirt all because of a flaw in her own genetic code.

"All right…Starfire, I have an offer for you if you are willing to listen."

"Yes, what is that offer friend Naruto?"

"You obviously don't have a place to call home here, and while…this place is not the home you know, I am willing to help you out. You can move into my home for the time being and stay there until we can come up with a solution to your problem…that is if you don't have a problem with that?"

Her response to the offer that he gave her?

Koriand'r tackling him with a smile on her face and her kissing him in thanks while rubbing her form on his own.

As the very gorgeous alien woman shamelessly hugged him while he was on the ground and allowing him to feel her form, Naruto could not help but feel his body react to that as well as the lip lock. He could swear that if he could manage it in the afterlife somewhere, his perverted Godfather was possibly waving a banner of congratulations at him for meeting such a beautiful and obviously…liberal minded woman who was saying thank you in both Japanese, English, and obviously Tamaranean.

…

In heaven…

Jiraiya was utterly pleased as he continued to look at Naruto and was waving said banner at Naruto.

"THAT'S MY BOY!"

…

As soon as he was able to extract himself…reluctantly from the happy Tamaranean woman the ninja moved to where his vehicle would be waiting for him. Since he did not have a lot of projects for his boss to work on, he had something of a few days off. So when he got to the warehouse, he got into the vehicle, though he had some difficulty convincing Starfire to ride with him in the vehicle. Once he was able to do that he headed back to his home and at least no one was willing to stop him.

As soon as he got to his home, he made sure to lock it down and allow Starfire to see his home and see how she would take it. The Tamaranean looked the place over with a critical but happy eye and soon spoke to him.

"Your home looks rather nice friend Naruto."

Naruto was happy that at least the home appealed to his new found friend, though he was aware that as an alien, her views on aesthetics might be radically different from what he was used to. As he looked at Starfire who was busy exploring his place of residence, he began to realize that he needed to get some decent clothing for Starfire. Though given what she told him of her people's culture and views on certain things, perhaps she might consider them too prudish.

(Not that I am complaining.)

Kurama snickered in the back of his mind and replied with amusement evident in the tone of the Bijuu.

(("When it comes to drop dead gorgeous women, you NEVER have a reason to complain or say no to said women…though there is ONE little detail you are apparently forgetting Kit."))

(That being?)

(("How exactly are you going to explain HER presence to the rest of the League?"))

Naruto grimaced at that, Kurama had raised up a very valid point since for one, he knew that he was going to be caught by the others harboring an obvious alien refugee. He had no doubt Flash would immediately hit on Starfire, even more so when one considered what he learned about Starfire's people in terms of culture.

Learning that Tamaraneans were very…passionate about positive emotions, namely love and the physical aspects of it really was something. And it was taking all of his self control not to try anything foolish with Starfire. He shook his head at that and decided to go see if he had anything that would appeal to her since he had NO idea just what Tamaraneans would eat. Thankfully it seemed that Earthling food was very much all right with Starfire and that made him feel happier. Though he had no doubt his food and drink bill was going to be a lot higher this time around.

As soon as dinner was over, he decided to show her the room she was going to use and she seemed to like it. And as he was about to ask her if she was going to turn in for the night, she removed her clothing right in front of him. Naruto naturally took in the sight of her like this and already his male hormones were on the attack, but at least he kept himself focused as Starfire merely smiled and thanked him again for allowing her to stay with him.

He gave her a smile and did all he could manage to state his acceptance of her thanks, but had to control himself as she hugged him and kissed him again while naked. And he was doing his best not to jump her bones since for one, she had been through a lot in his mind so doing this was not the right time. It took a LOT of effort for him to not only free himself and bid her a good night, but to also control himself from doing more than wishing her a good night's sleep. As soon as he closed the door he quickly began to work on controlling himself since despite the fact he was no prude and already had his share of passionate times, especially with Pamela a while back and his bosss, he still had to sort out the mess on what to do when the League found out about Koriand'r.

But seeing that it was going to be late, he might as well get some shut eye and hope he could organize things before doing any revealing to the others. Better all of them were together to help him when the time came, so until then he was going to work on helping Kory work on getting used to being in Earth and learning all she needed to learn in order to adapt to the cultures here.

…

The next day…

RING!

RING!

RI-CRACK!

Naruto woke up the next day to yet another busted alarm clock courtesy of his fist and tried to get up and get breakfast going. He then checked his calendar to see that he had a free three days from work, which was a good thing since he had to help get Koriand'r or rather Starfire settled in. One other name he could try to use was Kory since it was fairly human sounding. She did not mind and seemed to be pleased with her current situation. In fact so was he as he could not help but like the idea of having company in his place. Sure the League came here every now and then, but he was usually on his own devices so that did not count.

As soon as he was wide awake, he got ready to cook some beef and miso soup ramen as well as some bacon, fresh tuna sashimi, scrambled eggs, and toasted bread with jam and butter. The food thankfully was not that long to cook and already Starfire came to him from the room, thankfully for now she was clothed so he was not in danger of morning wood. Not usually a concern but right now he had other matters to deal with. Though even if she was wearing clothing, Starfire still looked smoking hot and she only had on a t-shirt of his that while fairly large still hugged her frame well. Couple that with the fact she wore no underwear as he knew of, it was pretty hard NOT to take notice.

Kory however smiled at the food and was pleased to try some once it was ready. She actually loved it and devoured her food well. It was a good thing that he knew what it was like to have a killer appetite and prepare accordingly. Once breakfast was over, he helped get some change of clothes ready for her as well as a towel if she needed to bathe. He also told her of the shortened version he made of her real name and she found it all right.

She soon headed off to bathe and this was a good time for Naruto to try and make sense of what he had to do for the time being with Kory by going into the area where his plants were.

However, he was so wrapped up in thought that he was unable to sense that a certain Dark Knight was coming, until Kurama informed him. He turned and sure enough, Batman came down from his plane which was now landing via remote control to another location nearby.

(Great…just when I was hoping to have time.)

(("Murphy's Law partner."))

(I swear when I find this Murphy character real or not, I am going to shove a Rasengan up his ass for this.)

Batman came before him and spoke.

"I just got word you had an object from space land here in L.A and you did not report it in. I can understand Tsukiri since you dealt with her well enough, but why the silence on this one?"

…

Naruto's attempt to explain his being silent for a bit on the meteor that came to his nick of the woods, was cut short when a certain female alien walked out from the house and moved next to him…completely buck naked. The happy female alien had gone to take a good shower and found the water enjoyable. And she appeared to be quite pleased by the cool waters of her shower but obviously did not bring the change of clothing nor the towel that he had prepared earlier since she wanted to tell him she was done.

"Friend Naruto, I am finished with my…oh, hello there, are you a friend of Naruto?"

The naked Tamaranean landed right in front of Batman and Naruto and smiled warmly at both of them. Naruto despite all he had been through in his life had to resist suffering a nose bleed as he blushed at the sight of Kory who was utterly unconcerned by the fact that she was questioning Batman in her birthday suit.

All Batman had to do was look at the obviously alien woman next to Naruto and he KNEW that something was up. He looked at Naruto and in his usual tone of voice when it came to interrogation, spoke, all the while doing his level best to ignore the obviously naked alien woman who was right next to Naruto asking him who he was while being naked shamelessly in public, never mind the fact that it was only him with the blonde Shinobi right now.

"What the hell is going on, and who is she?"

Naruto had the decency at least to look a bit shamefaced, never mind the fact that he technically was old enough to be Batman's great grandfather. All the while the alien woman was still confused on who this stranger in black was.

"That's a long story."

Bruce resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and knew that it was going to be a long story.

"Start from the beginning, and for God's sake, get her some clothes."

Starfire however replied.

'Why do you humans always insist on me wearing clothes when you are both men? Do I look ugly to the both of you?"

Both men suddenly found themselves unable to come up with a decent answer to that question.

…

However…

"It's here…that power I sensed."

The female voice came from a figure wearing a cloak and she spoke once more as she headed in the direction of L.A.

"I do not know what you are…but perhaps, I can learn something here. Perhaps whoever wields this power can do something to help me control my own powers better. As well as…that part of me."

The obviously disguised woman finally spoke as shadows moved around her.

"Azrath Methrien Sinthos!"

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

There we go, now we have Naruto staying behind in the planet while the canon bunch that deal with John Stewart's problem are off to deal wit the situation. That naturally leaves Batman, Naruto, and Wonder Woman alone on Earth along with a few choice allies to help.

Sorry if I missed something, I have been really busy with real life and my projects here so I am burning the midnight oil so to speak. So if the quality suffered then please forgive me, and do me a favor…highlight the areas that need to be fixed on your reviews or PMs so I will know okay?

…

Yes, it is Starfire who just arrived on Los Angeles, and no, we're not talking about the Teen Titans Cartoon version of Starfire, but the comic version of Starfire. The drop dead sexy and hot version of Starfire who in this case won't be meeting Robin for this story of mine so for those purists of the Robin and Starfire pairing, sorry, but it ain't happening here. This was requested from me for a while and I figured I might as well add this and get it over with.

Am I going to include Starfire in the H thing? Possibly, I not really sure yet since I have to read her profile first and this version of her borrows elements from the cartoon Teen Titans when it comes to Earth customs and from the comic version of her as well. And to really spike the drink, keep in mind that Starfire, the comic version anyway comes from a society that has…customs about sexuality that pretty much flies in the face of Earth customs.

In fact the races I know of that has very unique views of things would have to be the Echani of the Starwars universe and the Zeltrons of same universe. This is because the former usually fight with minimal clothing as possible so they think about communication and topics of conversation differently, and the latter…well, any Starwars fan would know how Zeltrons act, namely the women so I don't need to explain that. Though from what I learned, the Tamaraneans and the Zeltrons have a lot in common.

…

And now we have Raven!

Well, this is going to make things interesting to be sure for Naruto and the league, though this will affect Naruto the most. How will he deal with the arrival of Starfire and Raven in L.A? And how will L.A fare with the Hokage and these new arrivals on their streets? Will Naruto's experience with Kurama prior to them being allies help Raven control her demonic side? That is all up for debate and will be decided upon when we get there.

And before you ask on the H bit…I have yet to determine if that is viable. If it is, sorry for all Beat Boy/Raven pairing fans in advance if this pisses you off. But if not, perhaps this can help said shape shifting youth get the attention of said lady.

And yes, also the comic book version of Raven is here. Did I get that line she normally says before using her powers right? If not, please tell me and I will ix it later.

…

Anyhow, enough rambling from me, I have recently began to rethink this situation and figured that while I will not give up this story, I will have to make another version of this at some point.

This time the version would borrow from my Naruto Alpha story since having Naruto as nigh immortal in terms of aging is too common a trend now. And no I will not have him revert to being a kid again no matter how tempting the idea might be. The idea would pretty much be the same as his arrival in this one but with some modifications and other ideas I am willing to try out.

Though I have to admit that I am tempted to try another idea on Naruto's arrival and have the opening be set up so that it would take place in the middle of the battle between the League and Hades. Naruto wakes up in the middle of the fight and is able to summon Kurama and the other Bijuu in a fight to defend himself and the League who he meets. And despite being confused is quick to see that the enemy is Hades and helps the League.

Another idea is inspired by Agent G's (Who's work is platinum grade in my honest POV) story that deals with Ultimate Spiderman landing in the DC world right at the beginning of Justice League Unlimited. That by the way was priceless work and I salute him for his genius in that regard. I will test out the idea at some point but for today this is it for Justice League Fire Shadow.

On with the rest!

…

Bye!


	10. Chapter 11

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto or the Justice League so stop breathing down my neck about it.

Chapter 6

Part 2

Home Guards…and Guests…

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

Naruto was currently working on trying to get used to the fact that he now had a house mate in his pad. It was not a bad thing at all since Kory actually did not mind being here with him, it was a bad thing in the sense that he had to keep her existence at a minimum when it involved the League right now, namely the ones who were still out there dealing with the mess that John got dragged into. The mess he WILLINGLY allowed himself to be dragged into to be sure.

It had been quite a discussion between him and Batman since eventually the two of them convinced Starfire that she was not ugly at all. And the only reason that they were asking her, or rather Batman was asking her to wear clothes was that on Earth one did not go around buck naked when people who they did not know were around. Kory thought about that and agreed that she would to it for the time being, leaving the two to get dressed in some clothes. Though she did wonder why humans were so prudish at times.

Once she was out of sight and hearing range, Naruto began to fill Batman in on what exactly happened and how he met Starfire. He did not spare any details and even if he could not see it, he could tell that Batman was taking in all the details very carefully, no doubt trying to see if there were any holes on Koriand'r' story. That was to e expected and truthfully he had been doing the same thing, though through Kurama's chakra which was still present, he was assured that all she said was pretty accurate. There was also the fact that despite her beauty, both of them had seen scars on her, they did not detract her looks and had faded very well, but made it clear that her suffering for six years was hardly a work of fiction.

After a while Batman was silent, not totally convinced in Naruto's mind to be sure, but he seemed to be accepting it so far.

Batman looked outside into the sky and replied.

"You're sure that you got all the facts right?"

"Positive and so far I haven't sensed any chakra that might indicate that we have company from up there yet. Plus if her sister is after her and came here I would know it."

"How?"

"Chakra from relatives resonates at a frequency that is identical, so if Starfire's…sister…appears I would be able to sense it now that I have a feel for Starfire's chakra."

"Can she use it?"

Naruto thought it over and recalled all of his lessons and replied.

"I'm not really sure about that since Starfire is not human so I have no idea what type of chakra circulatory system analog her people have in them. I doubt that they even have the knowledge to use chakra since they obviously have other powers to call on. Not to mention the fact that while I have sensed chakra in Superman, I am not sure just what will happen if he tried to tap into it. The ability of aliens to use chakra for real is pretty hard for me to see, when I senses Superman's chakra he had a huge amount of it but his chances of using it are pretty hard to determine since his chakra circulatory system as far as I have sensed is not very well developed or it's utterly different from mine so it might react differently. Same with Starfire, she has a LOT of it but right now it seems that she can't use it."

"I see, there's also the matter on what she is going to do here. Like it or not, she will have to adjust to this world so I doubt that staying here is going to help her in the long run. Not to mention that she might compromise your location considering her rather…visual way of moving around."

Naruto frowned at that and replied.

"After seeing her level an abandoned sector of the city, I agree with you, but right now I'm the only person, apart from you that she knows of so I think she'd rather be somewhere and with someone she knows she can trust. Six years of that hell can make you very wary to trust anyone. Hell considering what I learned from her, it's a miracle she's not plain insane right now, and with her powers if she was driven nuts…bad combination."

Bruce sensed the tone there and asked the question.

"This happens to be from personal experience Hokage?"

Naruto sighed while retaining the frown and nodded.

"Yeah, let's leave it at that, besides, if she does not learn how to control her powers while here, you can bet that a wrecked abandoned city block is going to be the least of our worries. Besides, I would not put it past people to have less than stellar intentions towards her had she been left to her own devices in the city. She's pretty much an innocent in anything related to Earth customs and who knows where that might lead to. Though after having seen and be the target of her powers and strength, I can honestly say that to me the only ones to try that are either meta-humans or insane idiots with a death wish. "

Batman could not help but agree to some extent with that idea.

"Plus considering the fact that she is technically not evil and is more of a refugee, we can't just send her off on her own and get into worse trouble now can we? I'm thankful she landed in an abandoned part of town and not a populated one after all to be honest since who knew what would be the outcome of that happening."

Batman thought about that and nodded slowly, he was still reluctant with the whole idea but until a more acceptable solution was reached, Koriand'r would have to stay with Naruto. He was however going to make sure that when the time came, there would be solution in place to prevent something that all of them were going to regret.

"All right, but try not to do anything that would compromise you and her. And please, despite the…age difference, keep your pants on around her."

Naruto gave Batman a shake of his head and replied.

"I'll try, but considering how she looks, and acts, it's NOT going to be easy."

"I can see that."

Any other discussion was put to an end by two things, first was that Starfire had come back in a pair of shorts and a shirt and was actually decent by human standards. And the other thing was that Batman's communicator coming online to tell him that he was needed back at Gotham , thus he left and soon this left Naruto alone with Koriand'r who actually flew into the air next to the Bat-plane and waved good bye to Batman who merely gave a nod and left. The Tamaranean soon moved back down to the ground and soon spoke to Naruto.

"Friend Naruto, does your friend, the one you call Batman not approve of me?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and replied.

"What gave you that idea?"

"I have sensed he does not approve of me, though I have no idea why, does he worry about my presence here?"

"Nah…Batman's just cautious, he knows nothing of you yet so he has his reasons to be wary but I have no doubt you can make him change his mind."

The woman gave a hopeful look that was both cute and very beautiful, making Naruto slap his head mentally, there were very FEW women he knew of who could somehow combine cute and beautiful all at once in the same sentence. Apparently Starfire had just landed in that same category. At any rate, it was high time that he and Starfire got out into the city to do some patrol work since it would be a bit before he went back to work earning his next paycheck. For now though it was off to dealing with the bands of criminals that infested the place. Only this time he was not going to go alone, so he went off to get into his clothing and armor. Starfire then spoke to him as she followed the blonde Shinobi.

"Where are you off to friend Naruto?"

"Off to make sure that the criminals in L.A don't do any more harm to the people living here. You can come and join me if you want Starfire."

Kory smiled and replied.

"Of course I will help you out."

…

Naruto was now out on patrol but this time he was not alone at all as Starfire was accompanying him in the same way she had come to join him. The sight of both him and the alien woman moving about in the city had garnered a lot of attention and it was not something he could discount. Only thing he knew he had to watch out for was for men to start getting weird ideas, not that he did not think the same thing every now and then, even more so when one considering just how…revealing Kory's choice of clothing were. He COULD understand that on her world such things were normal, but on this world, she revealed way too much to be ignored, though he was thankful that her choice of clothing did cover the essentials.

Thank the Kami she decided to wear it than go around fighting crime buck naked! That was attention he DID not want to have to deal with. Her moving around the house in the nude…fine he can deal with that, but her moving/flying and fighting crime with him in the nude in public? Oh no, even he had his limits.

. Starfire looked all over the city and he could sense that she was taking in all the sights well thus far, then though she did wonder why a news chopper was following them, unmindful that due to the position the news cameraman had, they were able to get a very revealing look at Starfire's backside.

That however did not escape Naruto's attention for long as he quickly moved to fire a kunai on a line to hold onto the helicopter rails and then he moved up to face the camera-man as he spoke.

"Normally I don't do this, but if anyone starts making videos of my female partner for perverts to look at from that video of yours, I'll be very cross."

After that he left and was soon joined by Kory as they landed on the highest building roof top, Naruto was currently standing on the side of the building and looking about, while Kory looked at Naruto with a look of amazed curiosity.

"How are you able to do that friend Naruto?"

"Let's just say I have many secrets Starfire…by the way, remember what I told you about?"

Kory gave a curious look but that did not last long as she soon recalled just what she and Naruto talked about prior to them moving out on patrol.

"Oh! I am to call you Hokage when we are on patrol and when fighting the criminals, am I right?"

"Right? Anyway, let's rest here for a second, I have to do something before we move on."

Starfire nodded and as Naruto sat down and soon began to get into his Senjutsu Mode, feeling the natural chakra of the land flow into him and soon he could sense things better. That along with the emotions of the people around him as well as Kory and while he was still getting used to the feeling of Kory's chakra being that potent, he was able to focus on scanning the city. It did not take long for him to sense a number of criminals moving about.

The blonde had learned enough to know that chakra can be affected by emotions as well as the personality of the person releasing it. That and the fact that he was using a portion of Kurama's chakra to perfect his senses made it a deal easier. There were a number of criminals moving about doing he usual bit, but he did not interfere since he could sense that the police were nearby to handle the situation so he did not interfere.

But as he continued to move his senses, he soon sensed that a number of criminals were running away in a large van and were in a dangerous path into a civilian area. He got up and spoke to Kory.

"Follow me Starfire…we have some criminals to catch."

"I am right behind you friend Hokage!"

…

The thugs had begun to move away from the traffic of the highway as they planned to lose the police trying to catch them. They were more than willing to use their firepower on the cops which helped keep the distance between them and the cops who were following them. They began to move away to lose the cops, until they spotted Naruto landing before them. The lead driver snarled and shouted to his cohorts.

"KILL THAT BASTARD!"

The others got ready to fight but Naruto quickly focused himself and fired several kunai at their direction which were infused with a bit of his chakra. The weapons flew like arrows and quickly cut into their weapons, reducing them to scrap and forcing them to toss aside their guns. The driver charged, intent on running Naruto over and he got himself ready to avoid that.

However, Starfire decided to get involved by diving down, landing in front of said car, and then grabbing it and then flipping it on her hands and lifted said vehicle up while it was upside down. Naruto had to admit that the image was nice…even more so when Starfire began to shake said car to loosen the bad guys out. The thugs turned to fire their weapons on the two of them only for Naruto to quickly move in and take down his bunch of thugs with his sword cutting their guns and his fists and kicks sending them to lala land.

Starfire on the other hand had even less trouble as the thugs could suddenly do nothing but stare slack jawed at her,, allowing her to close the gap and knock them down to the ground. They had to be thankful for the fact that she had been convinced by him to NOT use her full strength. Bad guys they may be, but even these guys could easily be sent into the ICU or the funeral parlor if Starfire was serious in her attacks. As soon as the thugs were rounded up, the two took off and Naruto soon guided them to yet another sight of thugs robbing a bank.

…

This bunch of thugs doing said robbery on the other hand were armed with some more serious weapons and apparently had managed to get their hands on police grade body armor. How that was possible he had no idea as of yet, but he and Starfire were not going to let them get the chance to make life difficult for the regular folks. Naruto quickly fired two of his regular kunai to bite deep into the barrels of their guns while Kory charged up her power bolts to aim for the guns but she did not use too much power and soon their guns were nothing more than scrap.

Once the guns were out of the way, Naruto quickly decided to move in and land some serious knockout blows on the thugs who decided to try their luck in hand to hand combat. And it was obvious that they were going to rely on their body armor to keep them alive in all of this, but Naruto was a lot stronger than most people. And it was clear to all that Kory was more powerful to Naruto as her foes who tried their luck to fight her with hand to hand combat moves and using weapons were sent flying by her attacks. And soon Naruto decided to send one of the Kage Bunshin out and take some long metal cable and soon they tied up the thugs in rapid succession.

All of this was done in mere minutes and soon the people could not help but look at the sight of the bank robbers now out of action as both Naruto and Kory looked over their handiwork. No one among the civilians was badly injured and those who were indeed injured got treated by him with some of his supplies of bandages while Kory decided to help get rid of some of the rubble that could make things dangerous around the people who they happened to be trying to help. However this also allowed Naruto gauge the reaction of the people to the fact that not only was he around but this time he was not alone.

The blonde Shinobi could not help but smirk a bit as he saw the reaction of the men and women at the sight of Starfire in her outfit of choice when they foiled the bank robbery. Not that he could blame them at the moment since seeing an alien woman like her in her choice of wardrobe was pretty darn new. The men were staring like mad at Kory and the same went for some of the women as well and he did not have to be a mind reader to know what the men and the women of that particular persuasion were thinking when staring at Starfire.

Heck even the thugs were staring at Starfire like a bunch of the proverbial deer staring at the flood lights. Though it was more like they were drooling perverted fellows who saw someone they liked. And Kory had the looks and the figure to make ogling her come close to a national past time.

There were also women who were staring at the gorgeous alien woman with envy, mothers were covering the eyes of their children, and a lot more as well.

Naruto shook his head and spoke to Kory.

"Starfire, our work is done here, we should leave."

"Of course friend Hokage, ready when you are."

Naruto was relieved somewhat that Starfire was willing to go with him and soon they left as he still had to do his rounds and help out the people of the city if something happened that the cops could not handle without heavy injuries and losses. As he moved from building to building by running on the walls, Kory was nearby flying with a trail of fire behind her, quite the sight considering her choice of clothing and the way she looked before anyone.

He just KNEW that this was really going to be the talk of the city soon enough.

…

The next day…

Naruto looked at the TV and shook his head in annoyance as they were playing a news reel that involved him and Starfire, and already the rumor mill of the media was ablaze about this new and obviously gorgeous female protector of the city who was with him. Some commented that with her alien powers she might be here to do something that was akin to the movie Species. Others stated that she was going to be a strong addition to protecting the city on the off chance they finally got criminals the likes of Joker and worse. Others commented that perhaps she and the Hokage are more than partners, and possibly involved.

He snorted as he had seen said movie, creepy as hell to be sure, but it made SOME sense, though he doubted that Kory was the type for such a thing. Hell the woman in said film was an actress and the fictional alien and Kory had NOTHING physically in common. Her powers and strength were certainly going to be a serious asset in a fight so that second rumor he could understand. The third rumor was just as understandable since anyone could easily think that considering how friendly he and Kory were with one another. Not that it bothered him in the slightest right now as he had to make sure that he would do what he could to keep Kory busy and getting used to the world that she was now going to be living in. So far there had been no word yet on when the others who had gone to help Stewart but Naruto had faith in them that they would help get him out of that mess. Sure the idea of seeing new worlds was tempting, and seeing new races as well but like he said, there needed to be people who would fight to keep this world safe.

And right now it seemed another task of his was protecting Kory from the gossip columns as one reported theory that came out was she had seduced the Hokage and would be the vanguard of a new alien invasion like the one that the Imperium pulled. That one gave him a headache and he could not help but suddenly feel the urge to find the nut, man or otherwise who dared to suggest such an idea

As he looked at the next report, Kory came in still wearing the T-shirt and not much else on her which he did not mind the least and she sat down next to him. She looked at the TV and then spoke to the blonde ninja.

"What do you plan to do next friend Naruto?"

"Not much the moment, I'll be heading back to work soon to take care of some back log work…speaking of which, I think it's time we find some way to help you adjust to being on Earth. I doubt I can hide your powers and looks anyway."

"Why must I hide? I don't think the people would mind much."

Naruto managed to bit back a chuckle at that one comment from Koriand'r and replied while smiling.

"I suppose not, you are very comfortable in being who you are Kory?"

"Of course I am comfortable with who I am, which is why I cannot understand why you must wear a mask friend Naruto. You look quite good yourself so I do not understand why you must hide your face. On Tamaranean…any man who is attractive should not hide his face from the women who admire him."

Naruto had to concede Kory that point, technically since he was an unknown in this world, he had no past or anyone here to be remotely connected to. But he balanced that with the fact that he had friends, colleagues, and acquaintances who were regular folks. And if anyone made the connection to them knowing him and him being the Hokage, then they would go after them to get to him, even if he did disguise himself.

It was not the first time that happened to him after all and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible. That and the fact that he took to the habit of hiding behind a mask when he had a stint in the ranks of the ANBU back in Konoha so he developed an appreciation for the need to hide one's identity.

"I can see your point, but if anyone who happens to be my enemies knew what I looked like under the mask, they would already come after me and endanger innocent people to get to me. So far you haven't made a lot of enemies for yourself Kory, but sooner or later you will and I would like it that you can go and appreciate earth culture without having some crazy bad guys come in and take potshots at you every now and then."

The woman gave him a confused look and replied.

"How can a pot shoot?"

(Oh boy…)

…

In Los Angeles' roads…

Naruto yawned a bit as he was now heading back to the office to get some work done and hopefully get back before something bad happened to his place. It was not that he distrusted Kory or anything…well maybe that was not being honest, he was only worried that Kory would get bored being there in his private place and might do something bad to it. If there was one thing he learned from his time with the undeniably gorgeous Tamaranean woman, boredom was not for her.

He could relate to be sure being the restless man that he was, but he kept in mind that she was not from around here and there was no telling how much trouble she could get into so he had to play the role of nursemaid. As soon as that came into the century old shinobi, he could not help but chuckle a bit at the irony of that. Back when he was a little rascal, he always caused all manner of trouble, with only Iruka and Hiruzen as well as Teuchi and Ayame, Kami bless their souls keeping him from doing something horrendously stupid. He appreciated them for that when he became a father and watched over his own kids and then his grandkids.

(Great… and now I have to play that role again with a beautiful alien woman who for all I know might be older than I am.)

(("You always did wind up in the craziest of situations, at least though you don't have to worry about her right now…unless you count the fact she does not mind cavorting in just about nothing. Talk about eye candy and the fact she actually LIKES being naked only makes it more distracting. Flash would have a field day hitting on her."))

Naruto nodded and as he began to get his gear ready, he managed to locate his laptop and USB drive, he made sure that they were all right and then got his keys. He was already fully dressed for a day of work and Kory…well she was going to be busy on her own accord. She planned to go and see the rest of the city while flying about but he would be keeping tabs on her JUST in case. The last thing he needed was for her to do some sort of mess that he would have to clean up and who knew how the league might take it. Though he could wager a guess that if the others had seen the news, they would already know that Kory was with him in L.A and no doubt helping out in dealing with crime, though he was very sure that a meet and greet was in order.

As he was done, he walked to where Kory was eating and saw that she was really digging into the freshly cooked beef steak he had made for her. And the way she loved the well cooked meat was enough to tell him that she was truly interested in his cooking. Plus the liking for meat more than most would have to do with her people's ancestry more than most.

…

Naruto's workplace…

SAGE! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"

Naruto could not help but groan a bit as he got off the chair he was on and headed to his boss's office though he wondered what could be the reason he had been called into his boss's office and in this particular fashion by his part time boss. He however decided not to comment on this and was soon inside said office and facing his drop dead gorgeous female boss who was tapping on an IPad…one thing he had to give to the technology makers of this reality was that they knew their stuff. Technology was present back home and tech did advance in the last hundred years he had been home though the internet and other things were still a long ways off. Technology was pretty much diverse back home and they did have good reasons for not taking it the way people did here.

The internet was good and all, but all manner of information floating about that could be accessed by others, namely the ones that fell on the enemy category was always a bad idea. And having computers like his laptop or his boss's IPad was cool in many ways, but being a ninja for so long also told him that unless you had some serious security for this, the bad guys could just swipe it from you and get all the details they needed to make your life miserable as hell. Naruto however put that aside as he spoke to his boss.

"You called?"

"Yeah, you heard about the new heroine we have flying about in L.A right?"

Naruto tried not to smile a bit at that, had his boss learned that said heroine was a resident at his place, she would have flipped. And NOT in a good way either, but he placed that thought aside and replied.

"I have, and judging by the way I was called Boss, you need me for something?"

"You got it right…apparently you have a number of requests from some of your esteemed fans. They want you to try and write a story about her and her apparent partner the Hokage, though I get the feeling that since she is new to the city that would be a tall order. Not to mention the fact doing that without the lady's consent is asking for the proverbial black eye. Even more so when I saw what she can do on the news."

Naruto nodded and that in agreement and then spoke.

"So what do you have in mind?"

"Interview her and see if we can get her consent to have stories written."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and spoke.

"Uh boss, I don't want to sound like I don't want to, heck any red blooded man worth his manhood would agree with the idea. But the facts are that she does not exactly have a place of residence, she's an alien who might not see things the way aliens who lived on Earth like Superman and his cousin Supergirl would, and she has some serious powers. All that kind of make me think it's a bad idea. Not to mention the fact that we're not exactly a newspaper here, this is not exactly our department."

Carol grinned and replied.

"I know, but I do know someone who can help."

"Who exactly?"

"Lois Lane from the Daily Planet, she's coming here to L.A recently to see if she could get an interview with the Hokage, and with her around, I can bet that she might be interested in interviewing our literally fiery redhead."

Now THAT was unexpected, he knew of Lois to be sure and knew that if there was any reporter among the few who actually reported the TRUTH, Lois Lane was one of them. Add to the fact that she actually was on good terms with Superman gave bonus points in his book. That however did not mean he was not surprised by the fact his boss knew of Lois Lane, in fact he was surprised and decided to fish for some data himself.

"How exactly do you know Lois Lane?"

Carol gave a slight smile and replied.

"I was busy doing some business in Metropolis when I ran into her during one of her jobs for the Planet, a pair of thugs tried to rob her if you can believe that and she knocked out one and I was nearby to disarm the other one when he tried to pull a knife on her. We chatted and we became acquaintances, this was before Superman showed up actually and I was younger than when we met and had started the company only recently. I can call in a favor from her and have you come with her if she manages to get an interview with our city's newest heroine."

"Why me?"

"Let's just say that I have faith in you, plus knowing how Superman always comes in to save her regardless of where she is, I can bet that if things turn bad, the Big Blue Boy Scout is always on call. You have a lot of skill when I met you and besides, you can manage to charm the young lady even if she is not exactly human."

Naruto managed to resist the urge to smirk, if his boss had any idea that the alien woman she referred to was his unofficial house mate, then he was going to be grilled far better than those nice delicious racks of meat she had seen once. That made him recall how much of a mess he had to deal with when Starfire raided his fridge once due to the munchies. That really set him back a spell in the finances bit but to see Kory happy, made it all worth while, though he would have to worry about getting a raise.

"All right…can't say I'm totally sold on the idea boss, but I'll give that one a shot."

As he finished his work and was able to leave the building since his time for work was over, he was soon contacted by Batman. And he had a very accurate idea on just what the Dark Knight wanted from him.

(Well, time to face the music.)

…

In the Watch Tower…

Naruto could not help but shake his head as he was now looking at the sight of Flash literally drooling at the sight of Koriand'r who was here on the Tower to finally be introduced to the rest of the League. The others were not too sure about how to react to the female alien who was dressed in the same getup as before. Though in this case Flash obviously had no problem admiring the teenage Tamaranean princess in her choice of clothing, and for good reason as well since seeing her appear had been more than enough to get Flash to stop eating the arm load of hotdog sandwiches he had on hand before.

When she came to the Watch Tower via Hirashin with Naruto, Kory was impressed by the Jutsu and was asking him about he was able to do it, naturally he teased her by saying it was a secret…in the same way a certain anime character he had seen in his time surfing channels would do. Instead of being annoyed by that action however, it seemed to excite his now official house mate, and he could not help but wonder just how the Pervy Sage would have went seeing this happen.

He quickly squashed that idea flatter than a pancake as he could already swear he could hear his perverted godfather having ideas cooking in his noodle as well as laughing like he usually would when his perversion got the better of him. The last thing he needed was to have that image in his head for someone to pick up. Besides, now that he thought about it, he did not need to go far on figuring out just what that perverted old man would think if he saw Kory.

Flash could not help himself as he looked at the undeniably beautiful alien woman, sure Diana and Shayera were beautiful and he would have to be a blind man not to notice. But this new arrival was a beautiful woman who had a quality of her own that was more than enough to get attention of any man. And obviously he was one of the said men as he spoke to her.

"Are you single?"

Kory moved her head to the side with a look of confusion on her face for a moment before smiling and replied.

"No, I am living with Naruto so we are bonded."

Flash looked at Naruto with shock obvious in his face and Naruto sighed a bit and replied.

"It's…a long story."/

…

And later, said long story was soon told and Naruto did not spare any details on laying in just how he and Kory met. And of course Batman was more than willing to speak on what he learned when he ran into Kory. Once it was over, there was a lot that had to be discussed when it came to dealing with the young Tamaranean princess who now for all intents and purposes was a refugee..

John Stewart could not help but rub the bridge of his nose with his hand and looked at Naruto who had no mask on.

"I can't believe this…you brought a Tamaranean here, and not just any Tamaranean, but one of the Princesses of said world?"

Naruto groaned and replied.

"What do you expect me to do? She's here and considering what I know of right now, she's not exactly got anywhere else to go. And I certainly can't let her go off on her own, she's already been through enough as it is."

Stewart sighed and nodded.

"I know, I heard about what happened on her world Naruto, being a Green Lantern requires me to be in the know. That's the problem as well, the Citadel will be looking for her so we have to make sure she is not going to be seen easily. I will not put it past them to try and cause all manner of trouble in order to get her. The last thing people want is a repeat of the Imperium, because if it does happen…well it's going to be bad. They might even demand we hand her over to the Citadel to avoid another war."

Flash then replied.

"But wouldn't that be like violating some law in the Green Lantern Corps? I mean we do have a number of Lanterns who are from Earth right?"

John sighed and replied to that as he was quick to see what Flash was driving at.

"That's true, but that might not mean much if what we know is true, let's just hope that if it does happen we happen to ready. I am not going to say we should let her go, but keep her…presence on Earth under the radar for now, though considering her… more than recent media exposure, that might be easier said than done."

Superman was a bit more accepting of Kory's presence here since he was able to get the idea on why she could not leave even though she had a home that had her people there, unlike him.

"Considering what Naruto told us right now and from what we learned from Koriand'r herself, any attempt to return her to Tamaren even if it is the right thing to do is going to break the treaty between them and the Citadel. And if things are as bad as you say they are Stewart, I have to agree that she might be better off here with us. It's not something that is right to me, but we don't have a lot of options and I for one don't want to send her back to the Citadel if what she…told us of her treatment is anything to go by."

The other women in the League were full agreement with the idea, Diana being the more vocal one as she could not fathom the idea of Kory's own sister willingly allowing such demeaning acts be done to her own flesh and blood. No law abiding and compassionate Amazon would stand for such things that much was clear in her mind. As for Shayera she was not pleased to hear the situation herself though she could also understand why the refugee princess had to stay, even if she was a warrior the mere idea of one of her own subjecting that to her own kindred, her own sister no less, disgusted the woman regardless of her secret mission here.

The others were silent while Kory was with Naruto the whole time, her face gone from happy and cheerful to worried and anxious, no doubt wondering what exactly were the thoughts of the others concerning her stay here on Earth. Thankfully the League decided to let her stay on the condition that she be in contact with one of them at all times, though in hindsight that was something of a moot point since the only member of the League she had regular contact with was Naruto since she took root in Los Angeles alongside him.

Naruto talked with the others about it a bit more and they were all right with the idea so far since Kory was certainly not an evil person and deserved some peace after six years of hell. The fact that her people were a warrior culture made Diana curious how her powers would match Kory's but so far Diana was just pleased to make sure that the young woman would not be subjected to any more horrific treatment. Though naturally Flash was more than willing to flirt with her and even try to impress her with stories once in a while.

Kory liked that though she still hanged out with Naruto more so than the others. The blonde sighed at this and was pleased that the others were willing to let Kory stay. That at least meant that this was one problem which was solved for now and he could tackle the next problem rearing it's ugly head.

Though in hindsight, the problem in question could no longer be solved since everyone in L.A already knew of Kory or rather Starfire being a resident hero of the City of Angels. So the next best thing was to make sure that she was seen in a good light by the people.

…

For the next few days after Kory got the thumbs up from the League to stay on Earth for as long as needed for her to be out of sight from the Citadel, she accompanied him on routine patrols around L.A itself and more than once, they were more than able to make the bad guys who caused all manner of trouble to think twice. That included even some of the more violent gangs in L.A since the two of them usually did not hold any punches when they decided to go out and play rough. Of course he made sure to convince Starfire NOT to send blasts at random since he doubted he had enough money to shell out from wanton property damage.

And like before, another reason most of their fights were somewhat easier was half of the time the male bad guys would stare at his female alien companion like mad. Hell he even caught one gang member staring at Kory with such a look of perverted interest he actually had a woody in public!

Even he, being the pervert that he was, would never do that, it would have embarrassed him to no end. And the thug was NOT the only one as he had even caught a number of thugs in yet another hunt for the bad guys looking perversely at Starfire. And yes…all of them had morning wood especially when Kory moved to talk to him while giving them one hell of a view.

. Though apparently it did not bother Kory one bit either as she was more than willing to just focus on stopping her foes. Though she seemed to be more reasonable one between the two of them since she tried to gently reason with the thugs to just give up so this could not go any further and no one would have to get hurt too badly. None of them obviously were willing to listen but if he had to give a grade to Kory, he gave Kory an A for the effort.

And even when he took Kory out and disguised her in human clothing after convincing her to do so, every man would stare at her, and even some women as well who obviously batted for the home team. He was very much expecting that to be honest since he was also bound to look at Kory like the men were. If they knew that he was her housemate and the ONLY guy she willingly paraded in the nude in front of in their house…then even if they had no idea he was the Hokage, they were either going to admire him or kill him outright from jealousy so they could take her from him.

In fact…a week or so later…he nearly busted a gut when he managed to find someone trying to sell doctored pictures of Kory which in his mind were pale imitations of Kory. They got all her dimensions and even her skin tone wrong. The less reputable side of that was when he found some of the bad guys actually trying to use computers to try and have and exact copy of Kory in a porn video even if their actions were not exactly very accurate in depicting Kory as he knew her.

He put a halt to that attempt pretty damn quick and privately threatened to castrate the bastards by hand if he ever caught them making such garbage again.

Kory had a great liking for food and she even shared his love for ramen, especially when he introduced her to the said dish on one of their outings. And that made him REALLY pleased since he had worked his butt off to get the recipe right for his favorite dish of all time. He tried other food as well though on occasion some of the food that Kory developed a liking for made him stop and give the food a look of apprehension.

It became fairly obvious that he was going to be the designated cook in the mean time since some of Kory's attempts to cook some dishes from her home world using Earth ingredients was not exactly pleasing and for a brief moment, some of the resulting concoctions looked more like biohazard material than food. But on other occasions, the food was actually pretty darn good and she really liked cooking those dishes so he did not have the heart to always say no. he did however make the decision to have a spare kitchen made as well as buying a whole new set of kitchen gear and other things on the off chance some of the resulting dishes blew up for one reason or another.

..

In L.A…

Naruto was once more on patrol early in the afternoon and was eager to finally wrap things up and head back home. He was usually in his Hokage garb and wore his mask on the off chance he ran into company that was anything but friendly and had intentions on his life. The only people he was going to trust with his identity were those he had developed a rapport with, and the League and right now things seemed to be a lot calmer on that side of the spectrum.

But as he ran over the building roofs and leaping over them, he also began to use his Senjutsu to sense anything that might be amiss with Kurama's chakra helping out as well. The blonde was going to finish this one run through an area of L.A that had a serious problem with street gangs nearby and the cops were working overtime to keep the criminals from causing any more havoc than they already were doing. Naruto moved in that direction to make sure that he could help them out if the situation got out of hand.

Or Kami forbid someone somehow got Meta-human powers and decided to cause as much damage as possible for one reason or another. That was the last thing he wanted right now since he had no way to have enough money to pay for whatever kind of property damage that was going to be the result of the whole affair.

However, fate had other ideas as he suddenly picked up a major spike of energy that was definitely not the human or natural make. He stopped as soon as he landed on the wall nearby and gripped it with chakra and began to home in on the source of that rather unsettling energy.

(Kurama…you feel that?)

(("Yeah…definitely high level demonic energy too from the feel of it, but also mixed with chakra and rather thick and strong it's able to match to some degree with that much demonic energy."))

(Feels almost like that of a Jinchuuriki's…but a lot thicker from some reason.)

(("Not that close, but I get the feeling, better watch yourself kit, I have no idea what this is…yet but let's not take chance we do not have to."))

Naruto mentally nodded in agreement and soon they took off, with him using his wired kunai to swing his way to the his destination. And the closer he got to the strange energy, it was getting thicker though he also sensed that the chakra of this…person was trying to contain the demonic energy, reminding him of his past struggles with Kurama when they were still enemies of a sort and the fox wanted to escape and use his body for something he personally had no love for.

It did not take long for him to get to the location of the energy source…and he saw something that really got him on full alert.

…

Naruto could not help but look at the sight of several gang members on the ground either comatose in fear or screaming in an undeniably unmanly fashion. The gang members did not really concern him though, the one that DID concern him was the one who did that to them. The person in question wore black robes and had red gem clasps to hold said robe there in place. He sensed things a bit more and judging by what he was sensing, this person or whatever he or she was, was dangerous.

Kurama was also in full agreement with him as well as the Bijuu determined that the new arrival was female at the same time Naruto did.

(("That girl is not normal Naruto, I can feel that she's got an aura similar to mine when I was still your enemy and she's emitting a smell that's both human and not."))

(Half human?)

(("Right, be careful here, until we know more of her, we can't be sure if she has some way to suppress her intentions and her powers. That would mean she has a way to mask her true intentions from you and me…and that is bad news all around."))

Naruto moved closer while trying his best not to look the least bit threatening to the foe before him, or rather the foe in potential if he was being honest with himself. His danger senses were on full alert mode and he was sure that the woman was going to try something if this whole meeting went down south.

"Who are you?"

"The figure did not answer him and Naruto frowned mentally at this and decided to try fishing for more information on the new arrival.

"Look, I don't know why you are here but the silent treatment thing is getting VERY stale. I don't know who you are either so I am HOPING this does not turn into a brawl that is totally not needed. It's your move."

The figure said nothing for a bit longer until speaking, and quickly Naruto picked up that the speaker was female.

"You're the one I sensed a few days ago."

"Huh?"

NOT the most intelligent of answers and he KNEW he could come up with better ones than that, but that was to be expected since he had no idea what made her say that. That is until recalling that in order to fight at an even keel and possibly talk down Kory when they first met, he had resorted to using his Chakra Shroud made from Kurama's chakra, even if it was not at full power at that time. But that still did not make him feel better as he tried to figure out just what sort of person was before him. He briefly tapped into Kurama's chakra but like before did not use the full chakra shroud and he was surprised by the energy she was emitting.

It felt similar to how he felt when he used Kurama's chakra prior to when they became full allies, proving that Kurama was right in stating that the energy was indeed like when he and the fox were not allies and friends. The energy was foul and demonic in nature and while there was a human energy signature there, it seemed to be constantly at war with the demonic side. Way too much like when he and Kurama were still enemies of a sort. This was more than enough to get him and his partner worried since this was usually bad news. This was balanced naturally by the fact that she was using her human self to control or hold it back, meaning that she had not fallen to the call of her dark powers just yet.

(("Well…this is certainly interesting, she would be considered a half human half demon being for sure now."))

(That even possible Kurama?)

(("Possible though extremely rare in the world we left behind, our father mentioned nothing of the whole thing to us since technically demons, real demons don't meddle in the worlds of mortals. I can wager a guess though that in this world the situation might be different from what we're used to."))

(But…how?)

(("That depends on the way the…parents met…but I guess we should not try to speculate…we might end up causing more harm than good. Let's not forget how you turned out after you got me in you, I'm willing to bet that despite the differences…she might have been in the same boat as you were before you and I became allies."))

This was interesting and eventually he decided to try his luck and figure out just what she wanted from him. Kurama also had a point as well, whatever circumstances led to this girl having her powers would not be explored until he was able to get a better read on her. But right now he needed to try and fishg for what the reason was that she came all the way out here for him.

"Okay…you sensed me, so what exactly do you want from me?"

…

Raven or rather, Rachel Roth could not help but look at the blonde shinobi before her, she had seen enough for herself to know that he was indeed very powerful and capable as well. The energy she felt also was more than powerful, it's nature was similar yet not to…his power. Rachel mentally forced herself NOT to think of the demon's name lest she lost control of herself like last time. There was too much at stake for her to lose control and composure now as she had made it this far.

She focused on the blonde who was looking at her through what appeared to be a mask, and while most would have thought he was being oddly casual before her, she knew better. She was no martial artist and was no ninja herself but she could see that the man before her with all the power was not someone to be looked down on and after seeing him in action previously, she was willing to be more cautious here.

"I…sought you out…because I wish to learn."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the back of his head at that one.

"Learn?"

"Learn how you can control such power…power like that…should not be possible for one to control without some measure of aid…yet you do so flawlessly. Either you have used some sort of ritual to control the darker aspect or you have…purified it somehow to make it obey you."

Naruto had a sneaking idea that perhaps him using Kurama's power in conjunction with his chakra and Senjutsu would have somehow attracted her. And in hindsight he could understand why that was the case since the sheer amount of chakra he could unleash even at half power was very potent. Though he had no idea just why she would come all the way here, and seek him out personally to learn from him since technically he was not a half demon like her despite the advantages and traits he got from Kurama and the power of Senjutsu.

He had no doubt that this was certainly going to be a major concern for all involved, but he certainly could not turn away the woman in the first place. She went out of her way to come here to look for him and he would have to be a very stupid man to say no to her right now of all things since she did do all of this to find him.

"Let me get this right…you came here to seek me out so I can teach you to control your…powers?"

The nod she gave might not have been seen by others who were not able to pick up slight body movements, but he had no problem seeing it. Raven knew that as well and she could not help but stay there and hope that his response to her request was not going to be turned down by him. She did not fault the others who tried to help her control her…father's dark gifts but she felt that none of them could help her as the demonic side of her was becoming a lot more serious in trying to take full control of her. She needed a new way to control her darker self and to also find someone who could understand what it was like to be in her shoes.

Naruto KNEW that this was definitely something that he had some level of experience in, how else did he manage to wrest chakra from Kurama so long ago? But he did keep in mind that this was a different world with different rules so he would have to do things carefully so the whole thing might not come back to bite him in the butt.

"All right…let's talk first because I think I need to clear out some things before we go into something that might make things really hard."

Raven nodded and soon they headed out to an area outside of the city, it was not long before they came there and Naruto decided to talk about his origins. Instead of being wide eyed or anything, Raven was willing to listen, making Naruto feel that perhaps due to her…status she was not easily going to be worried about learning that he was not from another world and possibly not the same as her. That could be either a good or bad thing but now was not the time to make a bad move. He then explained he presence of Kurama and explained the way on how he was able to gain Kurama's power and eventually become friends with the Bijuu. Raven was very surprised by that, even more so when Naruto finally revealed the existence of the other Bijuu inside of himself. But instead of fleeing or calling him mad, she accepted it and seemed quite impressed that he was able to handle that much power in him without going mad, even if the other Bijuu's power were not at full strength.

She did not reveal too much of as Naruto had expected, no doubt not wanting to tip her own hand too early. Not to mention judging from the way she acted, he had very good reason not to talk about her past. He had no problem respecting that though he kept in mind to be careful. Still, despite the thick scent of dark power, he could see that through her chakra, Raven was a good person who was only like this in order to control the darker side of her nature. It made sense therefore that she would seek him out.

That fact however made him wonder if she had teachers prior to him who had sought to help her control her full powers. There's no way that there was NO ONE in a world like this that had no idea on how to teach someone like Raven on how to control her powers. So he was now in a very interesting position, either he could refuse Raven but help her seek out someone else, or he could let her stay with him and Kory and help her get some training to help make her struggle in controlling her darker self easier.

Which was it going to be?

…

Later…

Naruto could not help but wonder just WHAT he had just thrown himself into, having Batman allow Starfire to live with him in his place was not easy…but now this was definitely pushing the limits of what was tolerable. And he had no doubt that if anyone found out he was the ONLY guy living in a house with two women then they could easily be seen as him taking advantage of the women in his place.

Then again, one had to keep in mind that both women happened to be ANYTHING but normal, Starfire had some serious strength, flight abilities, a very strong life force and her powers, and of course, Raven was more than able to fight in her own right using her own demonic powers which was going to be of some concern if she somehow lost control of her abilities. That was really going to make a lot of alarm bells go off, and he would be the subject of questioning if the time came since he allowed her to stay under HIS roof./

Right now, both women had decided to reside in his place as he knew that he was by far the only one they appeared to be on good terms with. Starfire was quite pleased to have company even if he had to privately admit that Raven was about as sociable as a tree stump. But at least she was not trying to blast the Tamaranean teen into nothing but paste when Kory was being friendly with her. That was a good sign at least though it still made him wonder just HOW he was going to explain Raven's presence in his home to the Dark Knight once he showed up, and who knew how the rest of the League were going to take it.

He looked to see the meditating woman in question while Starfire was currently looking at a number of flowers in the garden and he sighed while sitting cross legged on the branch of a nearby tree. He knew that this was going to be one those days once the others in the League came here, but at least he was going to have a chance to get to know the two who were now his residents, though he could only hope that he could handle the stress.

One thing he had to deal with on a regular basis back in the Elemental Nations when his wives were still alive and they were all in the early stage of married life, was keeping the various personalities they had from driving him nuts. Sure it was kind of cool to be a guy with more than one wife, but no one bothered to look at the more negative aspects of the whole thing. Namely when one took into account how different the women were from one another and no doubt sooner or later, conflicting personalities would clash and all hell broke loose for all around the area, one type of incident that he had dealt with PLENTY of times.

And now here he was again…and he could not help but sigh once more as he looked up into the sky.

(One thing is for sure…at least things were not going to be boring.)

Kurama snickered in the back his head and replied.

(("True that…you are a real magnet for trouble kit…I wonder what is going to happen next."))

(Please stop…I already have an alien woman who has no concept of modesty in my house as she dislikes wearing too many clothes, a woman who has power over plants who I already happen to be in a relationship with though how far it's going to go is up for debate, and now a half human half demon woman who is as sociable as Sai was and has the laziness to some extent of Shikamaru. The last thing I need is another set of problems to come in and bite me right in the ass Kurama.)

(("Fate always has a surprise waiting for you Naruto, I thought you already knew that.)

Naruto mentally groaned as he moved on to check on them. So far it seemed that they were getting along and that was good. The last thing he wanted was for them to start throwing energy attacks on one another when they were supposed to be room mates and friends of all things. He did however keep in mind that Raven was only going to fight if she got attacked directly, as for Starfire, she was a gentle sort and very friendly if not a bit too rambunctious. So as long as he was able to keep the two calm for now things would be stable.

The only thing he had to worry about was how to explain the presence of Raven in his home to the rest of the League. First he had to deal with Batman and then the rest, all he could hope for was that this would all work out and not bite him in the darn neck.

…

Unknown to Naruto, his new found guest Raven did indeed have some people after her, some wanted her power for themselves, others wanted to end her life despite the fact that she was in no way shape or form accepting of her demonic half. They were not alone either as a number of other people had begun to gather and move to Los Angeles…but their target was NOT Raven alone…

But him as well…

This just got complicated…

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

There, finally this chapter is over and done with, and I hope that I can make it clear that this story is not dead or in the ice box. Introducing Kory to the rest of the world is going to be something that will be filled with good moments and mishaps…the ones mentioned are just the proverbial icing on the cake. And having Raven come here was not something I originally planned to do this early in the story, but since she is here, might as well make the most of it.

Now some may ask or have already asked if I plan to add them to the Teen Titans or will they become Naruto's partners and potential mates like Ivy. I can tell you right now that the plans for that are still up in the air for me so don't make assumptions until I have everything planned out in my head and I feel comfortable enough to let them flow out of my noggin.

At any rate…we will now move to a certain incident with a certain royal from a certain underwater city…and how things are going to go when Naruto and company have their own villains to deal with. Sorry for the delay and all that, but since you already know what happened to my home town I hope you can forgive the delays...more updates to come.

…

And if anyone is already having that question cooking in the back of their minds…no, I am not going to be ring in Blackfire JUST YET. Brother Blood maybe but right now I am not all that familiar with all of the Teen Titan villains. And I plan to have Naruto get his own set of rogues…the unpowered and the powered variety as well.

…

Also for the lemons for this story, I have managed to locate some of the drafts I made in the past for the lemons. And like before that means I will make a separate entry that has the lemons in them. I figured rewriting the whole chapter to include the lemon will take too long and thus it's more sensible to put them in a separate thread.

If my memory is right, the first lemon included Naruto and his boss Carol so I think I should get to work on that soon enough. It might take a while since I want to see if this old lemon draft still has the goods to be worth reading. The next was obviously one dealing with Poison Ivy and Naruto so I guess I am going to see if I can find the draft I made of that one. And if I don't have it…then I make a new one to make it even.

Now there is still a viable H route for Naruto alone but I'll do what I can to keep it simple and not too bloody numerous. And like my argument WAY back, I will do my best to make any romantic and physical relationship realistic as possible. Not an easy feat to be sure, but hey…nothing ventured nothing gained right?

…

Next on the update block is yet another NON-Halo story…not going to say which one, but it's not a lemon and it's not in any way shape or form related to Justice League. I'll leave it to you to try and guess which one it is.


	11. Chapter 12

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or DCAU so stop sending the lawyers after me already.

Chapter 7

Part 1

Underwater Battle Royale

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Conversation with Kurama

…

Deep in the ocean over a rough stormy day…

A US submarine was currently on a routine scanning patrol of the ocean floor. This sub however was no ordinary naval combat vessel. It was one of the submarines tasked with carrying a small but no less lethal array of nuclear armed missiles used for intercontinental attacks. The sub captain knew that this was a new patrol route that he had been assigned to but he was hoping that this trip would not become a major pain in the ass…and just be another mission run even if they were in international waters though this was a new path selected by the head honchos back home.

However, his hopes were going to be proven false as one of his crew, a sonar operations officer called it in.

"Con-Sonar, I am picking up an incoming contact."

"Out here? Do we have any idea who it is?"

The officer listened and was quickly surprised by the fact that the sonar signature…DID NOT match any signature that was recorded in the US Navy records.

"Negative sir! Unknown contact's sonar signature is not known on records!"

Any other comment was thrown out the window as they now found themselves under attack as the unknown ship rammed them. The Captain immediately orders all hands to man battle stations and to send word of the sudden and unprovoked attack by unknown hostiles.

Outside of the sub, the other submersibles come into view, and it's perfectly clear that the subs were NOT built by any of the known navies in the world itself. Their designs were utterly different and they were not alone as human like figures were seen moving along with what resembled jet-skies though these moved in water.

Normally any human without some form of personal protection or in a submersible would have died from the sheer pressure and lack of oxygen in such depths. These people on the other hand had no problem dealing with both and seemed to be more at home in the environment that they were now in.

And for good reason…they were not human…but Atlanteans.

In the main vessel, the Atlantean crews worked on their consoles as a shadowy figure who sat in what obviously was the command chair of the vessel looked on. Soon it was clear that they were going to deal with the vessel without even bothering to state their intentions. The commander however was pleased to hear one of the officer's speak.

"The surface ship has been disabled your highness."

"Good, then let them sink."

However, the call had managed to make it through to the surface and backup was on the way.

…

Back in L.A…

(Why the heck am I here again? Oh yeah…I'm here to buy enough food to feed a pack of wolves. Damn….for a woman with a body models would kill for, Kory's got an appetite that I only ever saw with the Akamichi Clan.)

Naruto mentally groaned as he was now pushing at least two shopping carts filled up to his chest with food items. Kory indeed had a hell of an appetite, that much he had already borne witness to and now he had run out of food a bit too early for his liking. At least he could take heart in the fact that only the food he had in his house' fridge was gone and now resided in said beauty's gut since he made it a point to carry spare food in his scrolls. That was why he still had food though now he was going to have to work on overtime to buy enough food for himself, Raven, and Starfire. He felt like he was dealing with a drop dead gorgeous but very slim and fit member of the Akamichi Clan when it came to Kory's appetite…than the Kami she did not get any extra mass when she ate.

The one bit of good news he had though was that at least Raven was not as ravenous as Starfire was when it came to food. That was something he was thankful for since if she was as hungry as Starfire was, then two carts worth of food was NOT going to cut it. He placed that aside and began to dig into the wallet he had as he got to the counter and took out a large wad of one thousand dollar bills to pay for the food he had purchased. The man who was there to man the counter the blonde had lined up on whistled the very second he saw the two carts and the food they had.

"Man…that is a LOT of food. You plan on having one hell of a party at some point sir?"

Naruto grinned a bit and replied.

"Let's just say that my housemates have very big appetites."

The man laughed gently and replied.

"I hear that…I had some dorm mates back home who ate like there was no tomorrow."

The two continued until Naruto's orders were done and paid for in record and for that he was thankful. Though it still made a LOT of people who watched him boggle at the amount of food he bought. He chuckled a bit to himself as he wondered how they would have reacted if they learned of his old running buddy Chouji. Now if he was here and met Kory then he would have competition for food all the time and nothing made his now long pasted deceased friend fight for food harder than having competition.

…

He got them all stored away and headed back to his pad, he had no workloads today and had gone off to get some time alone with his new room mates. Not in that sense but to make sure that they were all getting along and he would be able to call in on the League and get them up to speed on the situation he found himself in.

(("Yeah…tell them about the half human/half demon babe who is now residing with you."))

(You got a better suggestion Kurama? Cause if you do, I'm all ears.)

(("Nope, just voicing it out, seriously though this is going to be a very interesting situation for you since I can bet that Raven being around is going to make life interesting."))

Naruto groaned mentally at that as he started the SUV and headed back to his hideout, and with his supplies, all he could hope for was that he did not make too many of these trips. At least Raven did not eat too much and she was more of the eat enough to both nourish and enjoy but no binging and the like. She was a major fan of books though, something that he found out after a few days since all she usually did was ready most of the time.

He looked at the new pile of books he bought for her since she did make a request for them, and she was VERY thorough on what she wanted. She had at times moved out of her robe and when he got to see her figure in a leotard…man…for all her gloomy atmosphere, Raven was drop dead gorgeous, one thing was certain, even if she was trying to be dark and mysterious, along with magically dangerous woman, she was still very beautiful, demonic blood and origins aside to be sure.

(Geez…I really have to control myself.)

(("True that, you could always visit your boss and hang out with Pamela if you feel up to it so you can forget those ideas for the time being. I'm sure they can be more than willing to help you deal with the stress of the whole idea of two women in the same building as you."))

Naruto did not like the snicker in that tone on Kurama's voice and replied with sarcasm.

(Oh sure…do the mattress dance with my boss and the same with someone who I am trying to help turn her life around and make her see other choices that she make. As tempting as that would be, I know that's not always the right idea.)

Kurama snickered at that even more and then spoke to Naruto seriously.

(("Be that as it may kit, sooner or later you will have to tell them about her, and the way I see it, better they hear it from you than someone else with LESS than noble intentions. Plus, there is the fact that sooner or later, you will have to talk about me and your origins…ALL of your origins."))

Naruto nodded in agreement with that, sooner or later he would have to tell them, even more so in revealing Kurama and the powers that his long time ally had given him. But like before he had a feeling that it might not be so well received in several areas.

(You know that it is going to cause some serious reactions Kurama, you and I are allies, but once they learned of your…past actions, they might not see it that way. Not to mention the fact that if I do come clean with them about my past and my connection to you, that also means I have to tell them about my whole life. Not too sure how they would react to what they would learn if I tell them, but I can bet that if I reveal my…martial situation it is going to raise eyebrows.)

(("Of that I have no doubt, even more so for your Amazon companion since as hot as she is I doubt Diana would take kindly to you being able to have more than one wife, due to customs. And let's not even begin with the 'Big Blue Boy-scout' you know as Superman, but let's face it, it's all part of the whole package deal that is your life. If they can't accept it, then that is their decision and you can always choose to place aside your League membership and strike solo if it comes to that. Though if Starfire and Raven are anything to go by, you can bet the term 'solo' may never apply to you."))

Naruto chuckled at the truth in that statement since they were his partners in a sense. Diana's reaction also worried him since he had learned enough from her about the reasons why men were disliked or outright hated in Themyscira though she personally did not have a visceral hatred for men as some of her sisters would. However, he could wager a guess she would not take kindly to the idea of him being married to more than one woman. But if she met the female ninja that he had been married to she might change her mind.

…

As he drove deeper into his home location, he parked the SUV and got out to get the supplies and heard a voice which he recognized easily as the cheerful nature told him who it was.

"Friend Naruto! It's good to see you!"

Naruto smiled and turned to say hi to Kory…only to see that she was once more fully naked in front of him, and judging by the fact that she was covered in water, she had just gotten out of the shower. His eyes could not help but stare at the droplets of water that were on her form from head to toe along with on her hips, breasts, and the like. And adding the fact that as she flew to land before him feet first, Naruto was given one hell of a full frontal show by the drop dead gorgeous female Tamaranean who was smiling radiantly at him for his return.

Had it not been for the fact that he was quite used to seeing naked women, and he was aware that Kory had no problem with being naked, he would have thought she was seducing him on purpose. Even more so when said naked woman hugged him tightly/…pressing her more than well formed and ample bust to him. This was a major test of his ability to resist the desire to grab the orange toned beauty with red hair and green eyes and have his way with her. Now most guys would have urged him on to do it or kick him aside to take his place, but that would never happen since Naruto was not going to go to that length even if it seemed that Kory was not the least bit worried by that.

Yet again he was thankful his mega-pervert of a godfather was not around to see this…he'd be shouting with glee and speaking along the lines of ryo and gaki, meaning him, in ways he was not keen on remembering.

As soon as Kory released him after he struggled to tell her he needed air, she gave him a look of apology.

"I am sorry for my over enthusiastic greeting friend Naruto, I am just pleased to see you so soon."

"Heh…I kind of figured that, anyway, now that I am here, we should get some of the stuff back into the kitchen. And uh…Kory…I know this is going to sound redundant to you, but can you please put some clothes on?"

Kory gave a pout that was once more cute and yet seductive at the very same time, coupled with her more than beautiful figure, it was devastating.

"Must I?"

Naruto sighed and replied.

"Yes…I normally don't have a problem with that since you are comfortable about this sort of thing, but for the sake of learning new things about this world, please wear some clothing Kory. It's not that I don't find you attractive or anything because I really do, but because it is not recommended that you be like this in front of every guy you meet."

Kory's pout faded and then she smiled as she spoke.

"Not to worry friend Naruto, I will not do this in front of others, since I planning of only doing this in front of you after all since I trust you."

Naruto could not help but be gobsmacked at that comment, though naturally there was a part of him being a man that was saying thank you in all the known volume settings. How in the heck would someone like him supposed answer a woman when she said that she would be naked only for him to look at her?

Any attempt to try and speak was cut short however when a call came in. Naruto was quick to get himself focused on the task at hand. It seemed that the call also made Kory become more serious as she headed off to get herself dressed. As soon as she did so, the two of them were there before the communication screen provided by Batman, Raven was there but deemed it best to remain well away from the viewer system to avoid being caught. She was well aware of the fact that her presence would be seen as a threat by someone, who she did not know yet, but she was not taking a chance.

That proved to be a wise idea as Batman appeared on the screen.

"Hokage, Starfire, we've got a situation, we need the both of you at the Watch Tower now, we will fill you in on the situation once you get here."

Both nodded and when Batman was gone, Raven came out and Starfire greeted her in her usual fashion.

"Friend Raven! We are going on a mission with the league! You wish to join us?"

Raven shook her head and replied.

"I can't, not right now, I cannot leave at all until I am assured that I am being hunted no longer by those who seek my powers."

Starfire was not happy to hear that and wished that her new found friend with Naruto would be able to join the League. After all, they accepted her, they would be accepting of Rave too would they not? Naruto however was quick to see Raven's discomfort with the idea and spoke to Kory to make sure that she did not do something that could be seen as an intrusion by Raven in her own private thoughts and emotions.

"Raven has a point Starfire, for now she will be fine here, I made sure to find very good books for her and we can meet up with her after the mission okay?"

Starfire reluctantly nodded and soon Naruto used his Hirashin Jutsu and now they were in the Watch Tower. The others were there…with the marked exception of Flash and Hawkgirl which was a bit odd on his view. That was something that he would have to work on in the later time frame when he could. The only team members left were Superman, Green Lantern, Batman, J'onn, and Wonder Woman, some of the heavy hitters so whatever case the other to were working on in their own time they could handle.

"Good to see you made it."

Superman greeted them and soon it was Naruto who spoke.

"What exactly is the emergency?"

John replied.

"We got word that a US Navy submarine named the Defiant on a routine patrol in the Atlantic Ocean was suddenly under attack by unknown subs as well. The weird thing is that there's no known path used by other nation's navies. We don't know for certain what happened or who was responsible, but since the ship was operating in international waters it could be anyone…or anything for that matter. What makes it worse is the fact that the sub in question is carrying nukes."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that and began to try and figure out just where he heard of it before. It quickly clicked in his mind just where he heard of them. He had done research on the military of the US and was quite impressed by what he was able to read, the technology here gave them a major advantage when compared to his homeland though back home they did their own tech research though like before, most of it was for military application before being given civilian versions.

However, that also meant that he knew what subs were and blanched quickly at the idea.

"Hold it…we're going into the ocean?!"

…

In the Javelin…

Naruto was not too comfortable with the idea of being underwater as the multipurpose jet was moving to where the sub was last reported to have been. He had managed to chat with both Isobu and Kukou and they had provided him a chakra technique that they knew could help him move and breath underwater. Which he had been working on ever since he got the message that the League had to check it out since the last report from said sub mentioned being hit by unknowns while on routine patrol, which in Navy speak was bad news.

The sight of the world underneath the ocean certainly did not improve his mood either as he looked around. This was soon seen by Diana who spoke to him.

"Are you all right Hokage?"

"Honestly? No…this whole idea of being underwater is really freaking me out. And coming from a guy like me Diana-hime, it's already saying a lot as it is. Are you sure that the Javelin can handle being this deep underwater?"

Batman replied to that.

"Positive…we have the whole Javelin fleet rated for space travel after all so underwater operations is not all that unexpected."

That did little alleviate Naruto's feelings but he sucked it up and focused on the task at hand.

Naruto was thankful at least that even in this veritable flying sardine can he could gather Senjutsu chakra, one good thing in his mind about being this deep in the ocean is that there was plenty of life here and the Nature energy here was not affected too heavily by pollution, not like in the cities. Kory looked at Naruto and could see that he was really edgy about being deep in the water and was still in the process of calming down.

She decided to hug Naruto and spoke to him in a very consoling tone.

"You will be fine Friend Naruto, I will help you as best I can."

Naruto could not help but feel a bit more amused by the action of the Tamaranean, and he was busy to also try and not allow himself to react to the closeness of the woman. The others were looking on as well though with obviously different takes on the blonde's rather awkward situation. John ignored the whole thing, J'onn merely looked on impassively, Superman was trying not to laugh, Batman…well, he's Batman, and Diana was merely looking with a raised eyebrow at the situation.

Any other comment however was put to rest when they finally came to the exact location the US Navy said to them that the sub had gone down and had been deemed lost. They looked around to find the cause of the sub going down and Kory got serious as well. Much to Naruto's relief as he was about to let his more perverted side have some fun, he decided to tap into his Sage Mode to try and search for the chakra signatures of the crew to determine if they were still alive. He soon found them and focused on their exact location, but suddenly he picked up several other signatures.

"We are not alone down here."

It was not long before Naruto's comment was proven true when they spotted several ships heading in their direction. John was quick to act as he realized that these ships were NOT of any sub he knew of. He might have been gone for a while from Earth, but he still knew enough to know the kind of subs that were used. These were definitely NOT subs he knew of.

"Now we know just who attacked the Defiant. But those are not any subs I know of."

Batman then spoke.

"I'll take the Javelin, let's see if we can't ID these attackers and hopefully prevent a shootout."

That however was out of their hands when the ship tried to destroy them and John replied.

"Looks like they are not in the mood to talk."

Superman sighed as he knew where this was going to lead as he and the others got out. Batman would handle the Javelin and the rest of them would deal with the attackers, who he knew of well enough.

"I was hoping it would not come to this, I can only hope Aquaman is here and can reason with his people before this gets really ugly."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that as he summoned the chakra shroud.

'Who?"

"Aquaman, someone I knew of a few years back, he's the leader of the Atlanteans, and they are the ones outside."

Kory then spoke.

'Why then do they have such hostile intent towards others friend Superman?"

Superman gave a slight scowl as he was all too familiar on the why of it and decided to give the short version to Kory as well as the others.

"Long story short, Lex Luthor captured Aquaman and planned to experiment on him when I met him, needless to say, a friend of mine, Lois from the Daily Planet, and myself helped free him. That incident though made him LESS than happy with the people on land and we had to convince him not to go to war with the surface world. If he's with them then perhaps I can convince him to stop this before this gets way out of hand since he does listen to what I said, I just hope he's in a reasonable mood when we meet him."

Batman spoke once more as he managed to move the Javelin away from some more attacks.

"Then I suggest we get to it, though we're going to have to knock some sense into them first. Talking to them isn't going to happen if we're not alive to do it."

…

The heroes who could fight in the ocean soon left the Javelin and Superman decided to try and call out to Aquaman and prevent this from devolving into a shooting match. The Kryptonian's efforts were not going to bear fruit though as the sub attacked them all and so they had no choice but to fight them all and keep themselves alive long enough to stop this from going any further. Both Superman and Wonder Woman soon focused their strength to take on a much larger vessel to allow the Javelin to avoid the weapons it had on target on the smaller fighter. But once they managed to deal with that one, then two more of the same massive subs were coming in, and the Atlanteans were now going on into the fight using what would be considered the underwater version of jet skies. The League members were now caught in a fight with the Atlanteans and there was no ifs or buts about it.

Naruto was thankful that the chakra technique that the two water borne members of the Nine in him was helping him not to only breathe but move as well. He dodged another attempt by an Atlantean soldier to skewer him and then managed to land a kick into the man's face. The impact might not have been that powerful due to the water nearby, but the blow was enough to send the man off that sea vehicle of his and allow Naruto to quickly grab it and then after a brief struggle guided that thing to slam into another one being piloted by one of the Atlantean soldiers. Hat forced the second Atlantean to jump clear, only for him to slugged by Naruto in the face before the blonde took out his sword to block an incoming strike to his head from another Atlantean.

Kory was not far behind as her own energy shroud allowed her to move through the water as well and she soon fired several blasts of energy at her attackers. The blasts destroyed their rides and forced them to face her in hand to hand combat when she charged. But she knocked them aside with her energy covered fists and feet as well. She even went further by grabbing a nearby boulder from the sea floor and tossed it at another one of the massive vessels.

Superman was also doing the same thing though in his case, he was tangling with the subs alongside Diana. John used his Power Ring to form walls and beams to knock the Atlanteans aside and defend the others. When they were attacking him of all people, he formed a barrier and held them off just as J'onn came in and took them down. One of the Atlanteans tried to take down the Martian, only for the Martian become intangible and the blow missed the intended target and J'onn knocked the man out.

Diana was next to defend herself as some of the Atlanteans fired their vehicle's weapons at her, forcing her to defend herself using her bracers. The second the Atlantean stopped she rushed in and dsite the fact that sh should be slowed down by being in the water, she got into the man's face and landed one hell of a haymaker on the chin. She soon blocked another one coming at her with her bracers, bfore moving to use her lasso…She caught the attacker and yanked him off his ride, and turned him into the head of an impromptu mace to send two more of his fellows out for the count.

Batman was not far behind either as he used the firepower of the Javelin to fight off the larger subs and was thankful for the extra armor and firepower the multi environment fighter gave him in a place like this.

It was not long however that more of the Atlanteans were coming in to reinforce their fellows and this time around, someone else got into the act.

The former Hokage looked at the new arrival and he could tell immediately that this man was the head honcho of the bunch before him. The fact that he carried one wicked looking trident and acted like a king added to the whole deal as he readied his swords since they were heading in his direction. The fact that a fairly high number of Atlantean soldiers accompanied him also made Naruto more than aware that this was not going to be a good situation if things went south.

"Halt! You and your companions are in the territory of Atlantis!"

Naruto snorted and spoke, as the chakra shroud he used also allowed his voice to be heard.

"I don't recall seeing any signs that said this section of the ocean floor had been claimed."

That statement seemed to have stuck a chord in the Atlantean soldiers as they glared at the blonde, though the leader of the bunch who he could guess was Aquaman, the same one that Superman spoke of kept calm. And it was not long before the Big Blue Boy Scout himself came into the scene.

"Aquaman!"

Even with the neutral look the man had on his face, Naruto managed to see a flicker of recognition on his face when he turned to look at Superman himself.

"So we meet again Superman."

The Kryptonian and the Atlantean did indeed know one another and that was a good thing in everyone's books as they hoped that Superman could finally convince the man to let them go and save those people trapped in the submarine.

"I am sorry for the intrusion into the borders of Atlantis, but we came here to answer the distress call of the Defiant that was hit here."

"They should have stayed on the surface where they belonged."

The disdain in the blonde man's voice for the lives of the sub they attacked grated at Naruto's nerves a bit more. While he could understand the idea of forcing people off one's territorial borders, but what these Atlanteans did was really pushing the limit on what was acceptable in protecting one's territory. And he made his dislike for the action along with the man's attitude clear.

"Did they attack you first?"

"What was that?"

Naruto sighed mentally at the man but kept his cool as he knew that this was not the right time to lose his temper. They had better things to do than continue with a debate with him.

"If I recall right, the only reason one would retaliate was if they were attacked first. So that leads to my question from before. Did they attack you first?"

"No, and that is of no consequence now."

"No consequence? Has all this time in the sea water pickled your brain or what? In case you haven't noticed, they had done nothing hostile on your people to warrant this little stunt. Had you let them leave without incident then none of us would be here. But no, you decided to SINK them and endanger the crew of that ship which if memory serves in my day, is an open act of aggression that makes you and your people the hostiles here. That in turn makes this stunt of you're people an open declaration of war."

Aquaman was not pleased by that though his face was neutral as he spoke. The only proof of his hostility was the fact that he held his trident tighter. The same went for his escorts though the blonde king did nothing to order an attack on the former Hokage.

"Are you threatening my people?"

The blonde snorted and replied.

"I'm not, I'm just stating facts, I happen to know why you don't like the people up there and Kami knows there's plenty of people who are very much the worst kind. But that is NO excuse for starting a war when no one attacked you and even more so when you condemn innocent people who took no part in attacking your own to begin with. You let those people leave alive, and perhaps it MIGHT help ease the tensions around here. Don't…and well, let's just put it this way, if it's a war you want, then it's a war you shall get."

The Atlanteans were not too happy about that but they did nothing as Aquaman did not give them the signal to attack. The blonde king however looked at the one before him and wondered just why he felt that his words had more weight in them. He may look young, but Aquaman felt that he was far older than he actually was.

(His words have a ring of truth in them.)

Diana then spoke as calmly as she could, knowing full well she was addressing a King and thus a fellow royal. Despite what many would think about her people's recognized distrust or at times hatred of men, this did not apply to all of them. Diana was well aware that Atlanteans were a whole different bunch all together and thus they were to be respected due to not only their power but the fact that they were of a different race as well. Besides, despite her less than stellar meeting with Lantern, she had begun to get used to being around her male colleagues in the League.

"Please, they will drown here."

Aquaman looked at the League and then to the sub, thinking on what had to be done. And he finally decided on a course of action.

"Very well, take the crew of that vessel, but that vessel stays right where it is."

THAT did not sit well with one of the League however.

"What?! No way is that going to happen?!"

Lantern came there and it was obvious that he was less then happy with the option given to them by Aquaman. The others were none too happy about the idea either but they also had to admit that with time against them, they had to choose, either take the ship and risk making this situation a lot more complicated, or take Aquaman's offer to take the crew yet leave the nukes and stop this from going any further.

Aquaman's next speech only served to anger the former Marine even more.

"What makes you believe that you are in a position to argue?"

The former Marine was none too happy with that statement and was about to power up until Superman stopped him. A good thing he did that too since the Atlanteans leveled their weapons at Lantern.

"Lantern, we have no other choice here, if we don't move now the crew drowns. I don't like the idea of leaving those nukes either, and I wish we can get them and the crew, but time's against us."

That was finally enough to get John to calm down, but Naruto hardly doubted that this was the last time the former Marine was going to let this go unresolved. He actually like that idea even if he and Stewart was not exactly buddies or anything.

…

Naruto was not blind to the fact that a number of the Atlantean soldiers were looking at Diana and Kory intently. And being who he was and what he experienced, he had no problem seeing the LESS than pure thoughts flying around in their heads. Thus he made sure to send a bit of killing intent with Senjutsu chakra mixed in and Kurama's to warn them to back off. That worked as the leering Atlantean soldiers moved away though it was clear that his action did not go unnoticed by everyone in sight range of him. Yet they had more pressing matters at hand so they did not continue the whole thing.

The good news was that they were now able to get the people of the sub out and take them back to the mainland. Naruto was quick to get up to the surface and be thankful to be out of the ocean for now. Kory was kind enough to help him up to the Javelin while Diana gave him a smile of thanks for helping her when her attackers tried to double team her much earlier. That however allowed him to hear the conversation between Aquaman and Superman.

"This doesn't have to always end like this."

"And what would you propose?"

"Go to the World Assembly and air your grievances to the people there as they too represent their nations in this world."

The blonde looked at Superman warily and replied.

"Am I supposed to come in their act like a beggar?"

"No, you're to come there as a King and ruler of Atlantis."

Thankfully it seemed that the crew of the US Naval vessel were now being taken away to safety by the others, though he had no doubt Lantern was anything but happy. Even more so with the idea that they had to leave the nukes behind, and if he were to hazard a guess, the head honchos of the Navy were not going to be too happy with that either.

…

In the Watch Tower…

Superman was not all that happy with his current situation in dealing with an obviously irate Admiral of the US Navy. The submarine's crew were back safely but the report the said crew gave to their higher ups had the brass in the US military up in arms. Not that Naruto could blame them, when he read up all he could on these…nuclear missiles, they all sounded like the high tech version of the Kinjutsu Hotaru had on her body that could level battle fields and poison the land.

That last part did not sit well with the blonde with him being a Sage and all that and he did not eve want to guess the number of people who would be killed in such an event a weapon like that was used. He was thankful that none of his enemies back home had not developed the tech to make these nukes since the last thing he felt his world needed were those things.

The blonde looked at Superman who at the moment was working hard to calm the man, and he then turned to John and Diana, the former marine was not in the best of moods to say the very least and Diana was doing her best to try and calm the man. He already knew just why they were arguing.

"I am telling you, leaving those nukes with that madman is a bad idea! Who knows what the hell he is going to use those nukes for!"

"Aquaman is not a madman Lantern, he is a king, leader of his people and he is only doing his best to defend his people."

Lantern was not all that happy however and relied in kind.

"And who is going to protect the people on the surface from him?! I am not going to let those nukes just lie there and be used by him or his posse."

And with that in mind, he turned around and headed out.

Diana tried to reason with Lantern but Naruto was there and shook his head at the Amazon princess.

"John's made up his mind Diana-hime, and to be honest, I can't exactly blame him either. I know that Aquaman is trying his best to defend his people, I would do what I could if I was in his place as well. Hell, I did the same thing myself more than once as Hokage. But the fact remains that John is honor bound to defend the people here and thus he has more than ample reason to react the way he did. Those nukes are very much a cause of concern for anyone and John has a right to be worried. Both of them are not going to budge on the matter."

"I see…but what can we do?"

'All we can do is wait and see if we can't find a solution that can at leas work for both sides, though I can bet ten to one that Aquaman is NOT having an easy time of it."

…

And Naruto was right…for Aquaman was facing one of his own people who was making demands…though in this case, it was for something of a more offensive nature towards the people on the surface.

In the City of Atlantis, throne room…

Aquaman, or rather Arthur was currently facing one of his military officers, in fact one of the more recognized heads of the military, one General Brak who was currently speaking about the recent altercation with the surface dwellers. Next to him was his brother Orm, and his wife Mera, Orm was one of his advisors apart from being his half brother and his wife Mera was nearby holding their child and serving as his consciousness on what was being spoken to him.

"My King, we cannot just stand back and let the surface dwellers do what they please! Not any longer! These barbarians treat the ocean as if they have a right to do with as they please! They dump their garbage into the seas, they pollute the waters and foul once fertile hunting and harvesting grounds! They take all and give nothing back! They sail their weapons over the seas with impunity! It is high time that we put a stop to this before our people will suffer from their neglect and arrogance! And we in the military have a solution."

"And what is that?"

Brak was serious about the whole matter and replied.

"Our military has the technology, the will, the resources, and the manpower. The surface dwellers have yet to have anything that can atch us conventionally. Our military can invade and sweep through the surface world and remove these barbarians from the lands once and for all!"

Aquaman knew immediately that it meant total war, and unlike Brak he knew full well that despite their appearance, the surface dwellers were anything but primitive. Yes they lacked certain things that the Atlanteans had in far better numbers than they did, but that hardly meant that it was going to be as easy as Bra would want to believe.

Not only that, there were others among the surface dwellers who had more than enough power to be major dangers to his people…the recently formed Justice League being among them. He also had no desire to lunge Atlantis into a war that would lead to the deaths of who knew how many of his people.

"General Brak, I decide policy here as King, not you."

Brak then did something that that got on the blonde Atlantean's nerves as he actually moved forward and showed a more aggressive and demanding posture and tone. These were not good things to show before one's own leader.

"But we cannot delay any more my king! We should end this all now before they cause even more destruction with their barbaric disregard for the oceans!"

Aquaman's eyes narrowed as he looked at the still defiant Brak, he was still trying to digest the fact that not only was Brak defying him, but also acting as if he was going to force him to take military action. This was something that had troubled Aquaman of late as he knew that Brak's words were not without merit. He too had experienced the actions of the surface dwellers when he had been taken captive and experimented on by the one known as Lex Luthor. He had wanted to wage war there and then to avenge his suffering, but in that same instant, he too knew that not all of the surface dwellers were enemies of his.

Superman and his friend Lois Lane had helped to free him and they were those who talked him down in order to stop the war with the surface world. They were among the few people who he would listen to and thus he was now torn between his desire to stop the surface dwellers with any means deemed necessary or to find a more peaceful solution that did not result in him willingly leading his people into war that would result in the loss of lives.

That was why he was not the least bit pleased by the way Brak was speaking to him,

However, Orm came in and spoke to Brak.

"That is enough General, your king has spoken."

Brak looked at Orm and nodded.

"of course my Lord Orm, I apologize."

Aquaman already knew that this was not going to be the last time that he would have this discussion with Brak, but he had to consider many things. Even more so when he looked at the direction of his wife Mera and their child and heard his son cry a bit along with Mera working to calm their child.

"I will take your words under advisement General Brak, there is much for me to consider and to also make sure that this is done with everything considered."

…

Later…

Aquaman walked into the private quarters and headed for the crib where his son and heir to the throne happened to be resting while Mera kept him company. When he held his hand before his son, the young babe held his fingers and squeezed. Arthur smiled at that and was more than willing to let his son grip his hand.

"He has a strong grip indeed."

Mera nodded with motherly affection and pride

"He takes after his father."

He smiled at that but his smile was not going to last as he thought about all that has happened. His change of demeanor did not escape his wife and Mera soon spoke to him as the blonde leader of the nation of Atlantis moved to the balcony of the city and looked it over. The city of Atlantis was nothing like that of the old Greek style that it had descended from in the books, due to them having to adapt into their new world and develop not merely magic but technology even though there were few forms of magic. His people were able to live in peace and thus were able to prosper for many centuries prior to the rise of the surface dwellers in their own over the same time frame.

"Arthur, something bothers you deeply, please tell me what it is."

Arthur looked at his beloved wife and then into the city as well as to their son who was now sleeping in the crib.

"Am I doing the right thing Mera? I know that what Brak said is true and had he suggested it years ago I would have given him my consent. The surface dwellers have caused more than enough damage to our world, and I have known first hand their callousness and disregard for the lives of others. Yet I have also met those among them ho have shown to me that they are not barbarians and can be trusted."

"You speak of Superman and his friend Lois Lane?"

"Yes, and if I do go to war with the surface world he and I will be enemies, and can I truly agree to starting a war that will drag our people into Gods knows how long a conflict? Am I strong enough to take such a course of action that will have my hands stained by so much blood?"

Mera understood where Arthur was going with this and held his hands in her own as she spoke.

"You're hands are strong enough to defend our people and our home, and I gladly entrust my life and my future in them."

That made Aquaman smile and he began to think back on the suggestion made by Superman, and after a few more minutes, he made a decision and then proceeded to tell his wife.

…

At the site of the Defiant…

Atlantean patrols were moving around the downed US Navy submarine as per the orders of their king to make sure the sub stayed where it was. That would have been proof enough to most people that Aquaman was serious in keeping his word. However, John Stewart was anything but most people as he began to sneak in quietly and patiently, avoiding the patrols and using his training both as a Marine, and a Green Lantern to get into the sub.

One would think that a man who was covered in a glowing green silhouette of energy could e seen, but the patrols were not focusing on him. John took that into account and quickly headed to where the missile bay was, showing that even though he was a Marine and not a guy who usually worked on subs, he knew enough to know where to go. He scanned the area with the ring and sure enough he now had a greater reason to distrust Aquaman.

The nuclear material used on the missiles was no longer there.

…

Back on the surface…

The people on the beach were currently enjoying some regular time in the sun and also with families and loved ones. Beach sports and the like to make sure that they were all able to be entertained. However all that took a back seat when some of the swimmers began to move away from the water and move back to shore. Normally that would have meant something bad, like sharks or whatnot, but instead a tall man came out from the water without any form of breathing apparatus or diving suit. The beach goers just watched as the man moved through the beach and soon headed into the city.

As soon as he got there, he moved through without caring much for who was looking, Aquaman had come to the city and already he was not the least bit happy. No doubt not liking the smell of the air which had smoke and smog in it, and also the stench of garbage that he could smell easily enough as he moved forward ignoring the stares directed at him. There was also the fact that apparently he was lost, he needed directions.

As he crossed the street cars quickly stopped to avoid running him over, one driver however made the mistake of shouting at the annoyed Atlantean king.

"Hey you idiot! Get the hell of the road!"

And what was Aquaman's reaction to that rather unflattering remark? Closed fist on the hood of the car that literally caved it in and made the car's rear move forward, showing that he was NOT someone one shouted at unless one had a less than stellar regard for one's own health. That shut said driver up pretty darn quick and brought a nearby traffic cop, who had to be given credit for doing his job even though the man he faced was that strong.

"Hey! What on Earth are you doing?"

Aquaman looked at him sternly and apparently learned enough to know that the man was a man of authority due to the badge. He then proceeded to get the information he sought…his way.

"Where is the World Assembly?"

…

…

Back at the Watch Tower…

The very second Lantern came back to the Watch Tower, he was irate and revealed that he had gone back to check for himself the status of the nukes. The missiles were there to be sure, but the nuclear material that was the main and the most dangerous component of the whole package was no longer there. Diana asked him if he truly suspected that Aquaman had done the theft, to which he replied sarcastically if there were any other Atlanteans they knew of.

And naturally he stated they should go to Atlantis and get some answers, normally a good idea had Superman not shot that down.

"If you want to have a word with him back at Atlantis John, you can forget about it."

"What?"

Superman parted from the screen to show the World Assembly which was in session right now…and guess who was there?

"Because he's already here, and from the looks of things…it's not going well."

…

In the World Assembly building…

The people in the Assembly were busy trying to make sense of what was happening in where they were working. The day had been focused on dealing with the recent loss of said submarine and now they find the one responsible of said loss of sub in front of them. Aquaman was naturally making his move and his intentions clear to everyone in sight range and earshot as well.

His demands in his mind were fair and reasonable.

But to the others? Not so much.

Many of the people in the World Assembly made their own disgust with the demands leveled to them by Aquaman very clear as one man, who no doubt represented the French Government spoke.

"You and your people have the audacity to sink a nuclear sub and then barge in here to make demands for peace like this? Who do you think you are?"

Aquaman replied in the same serious and calm tone as before.

"I am the sworn in and sovereign ruler of the kingdom of Atlantis."

"A country that is not recognized and as such has no right to make demands!"

Aquaman glared at each member of the Assembly, making sure to focus first on the French representative as he replied.

"These are the final terms of peace between your nations and mine; discard and ignore them at your own risk."

The speaker then replied as he tried desperately to keep things in the hall in order, the last thing he wanted was a riot in the hall itself.

"But those demands of yours are outrageous and impractical! What you are proposing seriously undermines not only the security and defense of our respective nations, but out economic security as well!"

Aquaman looked at the man and replied.

"Those are your concerns and problems, they are not mine."

That did it as the whole Assembly rioted and the leaders and officials were all standing up and were hurling threats and insults at Aquaman. And while he remained calm, he could not help but feel some level of disappointment. He had arrived to air his grievances and set his terms as Superman suggested, and now it seemed that he had wasted his time.

"Aquaman!"

The leaders turned and so did the Atlantean as Superman came along with John Stewart, J'onn, Naruto, Kory, and Diana herself. As Superman landed in front of Aquaman, the Atlantean king spoke bitterly to the Kryptonian.

"I came here and offered them a chance for peace between their nations and mine, and this is how they respond. This was a waste of my time."

Superman replied to that, hoping to try and salvage this situation before it turned ugly.

"Please try to be patient about this, things like this takes time."

"I have wasted too much time already."

As Aquaman shoved aside both Diana and Kory and in not a gentle fashion when they were in his way, the blonde Hokage clenched his jaw behind his mask at the action done by the royal who was now leaving the premises with a serious chip on his shoulder. The guy was a real hard case and he was resisting the urge to do something about it since he could understand to some extent where he was coming from. He had a similar situation with B's brother A, the previous Raikage when the Fourth Shinobi War ended so he was not all the unfamiliar with the blonde Atlantean's antics. That hardly meant he liked it one bit though.

(("The guy's about as diplomatic as a kunai up the nose"))

And it was fairly obvious that the same sentiment was with the rest of the team as well. John himself summed it up easily while he helped steady Diana while Superman did the same for Kory.

"A real prince charming this guy."

Naruto nodded as he and the others decided to move out and try to convince Aquaman to at leas try again and find a compromise. They knew that unless he found a way to work with the people, it was not going to end well.

…

However as the man came out of the building, he was quickly beset by the media who asked him all manner of questions. And a fair number of said questions were not all that flattering either. He was more than willing to ignore it and also the calls of the League to slow down and try to take the diplomatic route again. That was soon changed however when he was suddenly attacked by what appeared to be a missile.

It missed most of the bystanders nearby as well as the media who had been following the Atlantean but it nearly clipped him. However before another attack could be made on the obviously injured Atlantean the League stepped in. Naruto reached out with his Senjutsu senses to track the attacker and pin him down, and he managed to sense a faint signature fleeing the scene, but right now getting Aquaman to medical treatment was high priority. Thus he had to cut any attempt to chase down the man, besides seeing that Batman was up to something he decided to let the Dark Knight make his own move.

…

In Atlantis…

The news of the attack on Aquaman had spread quickly as they had, despite their less than stellar liking for the surface dwellers, they found it prudent to monitor them. That naturally meant that they were also tuned into the news and the fact that their king had been attacked had been really alarming. In the command center of the Atlantean military, junior officers were still trying to figure out what the next move was while the senior ones were now on the move to try and work on dealing with the news.

However before they could make plans, someone else got into the act and carrying the Trident that symbolized the Kingship of Atlantis, and the person in question is none other than Orm.

"We cannot spend what time we have left in mourning, we will make the surface dwellers pay for their crimes. Muster our forces!"

While some of the younger officers were smiling at the chance to avenge their fallen king under Orm, the more senior ones nearby spoke.

"Lord Orm, even if you are indeed the brother of our King, you do not have yet the authority to command the military to rise up in arms. We have not yet confirmed the status of the king and the next in line is your nephew due to the rules of succession..."

"Who is yet a baby General, I am acting as regent until this crisis is dealt with as he cannot rule in his current age. Until we make the surface dwellers pay for the attack on our king, I will lead our people in this dark time."

Any other discussion was cut short when Mera came to the room, the military saw the distraught look on their Queen's once calm face and decided that it was best that they wait for a better time than to discuss their next plan or what the current state of the king was.

"Orm! Is it true?! Was Arthur attacked?!"

"I am afraid so Mera…the news is grim."

Mera was shocked but she was not breaking down at that exact moment since she was aware of her husband's resiliency and strength.

"We must find out if Arthur is all right Orm! We have to know if he is all right!"

Orm gave a sad look and replied.

"I wish that it can be done Mera, but Arthur's been taken by the surface dwellers to one of their facilities. They say that he is being taken for medical treatment, but I have not forgotten the fact that Arthur had been taken in the same pretense as before, but while he escaped that one, I am afraid that we may very well be too late."

"No…we cannot give up like this Orm…"

"No…we won't Mera, I will need to work on our response to this mess…please Mera, let me do what I can for our people here in this dark time."

Mera left with her thoughts in a mess, all focused on the state of her husband. She wanted to feel being in his arms again and to be assured by his presence and his voice that all would be all right. But she knew that she had to deal with their son and keep him safe. Thus she headed off to see to her son…unaware that as she left a smile was appearing on Orm's face.

…

In the hospital…

Aquaman's situation was anything but ideal in his view as Naruto and the others watched for him to recover. The doctors in this place had little to no idea on how to treat him since his skin was as tough as a rhino's as needles were broken a number of times. It was all bad until Batman came in and began to work with the Doctors to house Aquaman into a specialized tank that used Seawater that was conditioned to his situation. Thus they had to be nearby to observe his recovery progress, which seemed to be going rather well, proving that Batman's calculations and recommendations were spot on.

(Well at least he's not going to die.)

("True enough Naruto, but I doubt that once he wakes up, we're going to be any better off.")

And sure enough the very second that the doctors assured them that Aquaman was going to be all right, Lantern made his move and proved he was jus as diplomatic as Aquaman was, needless to say it did not end well. Finally Naruto had run out of some of his patience and decided to act now. And besides while the two were arguing away at one another, he decided to scan Aquaman and what he had seen was enough to convince him to get serious with this whole thing.

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU SHUT IT?!"

Naruto has enough of the arguments between Stewart and Aquaman, they were not going to resolve the issue of how to deal with Aquaman's attempted killer and what happened to the nuclear material if these two were going to argue like mad over the whole thing. The two looked at him and Naruto glared back with his mask off and spoke to Stewart while using his Senjutsu and Kurama's chakra.

"Listen here Lantern, I took the liberty of scanning Aquaman's emotions and he was not lying in the least that he had given those strict orders to have that sub secured and not to be tampered with. And he has no idea who did take them so that means that we have a major problem on our hands since that means someone countered his orders or outright ignored them. I am already old enough to know when someone is lying and Aquaman over here is not lying about anything. Didn't they teach you to keep a cool head and try to find all the answers before doing the good cop bad cop routine?"

John stared back at Naruto but agreed that the blonde did have something going for him. But that did not mean he was going to cool off just yet. The nuclear material was still a major issue in his mind and unless they dealt with it now and got answers, this was not going to end well. Still what he blonde mentioned got his attention as well.

Naruto then turned to Aquaman and replied.

"You are not acting like a real king right now."

"What?"

"You heard me, a King is supposed to keep a cool head and try to find all the possible angles and solutions to a problem, and acting like you are right now only adds more fuel to the fire. You said you want to avoid war for your people? Then stop acting like that and LISTEN to others for a change. You are NOT doing your people and yourself any favors by what you've just done in that meeting earlier. You're a king and that means being a diplomat when peace is what you have in mind, but what I saw in there made me shake my head in consternation since you acted like a war hawk than a negotiator. I know you are not lying about what you told Lantern but acting like this only going to make you look all the more guilty."

Aquaman looked at the youth though he had long since suspected that his supposedly youthful appearance was misleading. And that action was enough to prove him right and somehow his words had a ring of truth in them so he sighed a bit and decided to reign in his impatience and anger for now.

"All right, I'll listen."

Naruto sighed in relief and began to run through what they know thus far.

"That assassin who came after you, I sincerely doubt that it was a random thing, how did he know you were here, what you were going to do, and the weapon he used tells me that he had a LOT of data on you. You never told anyone about your little trip up here since from what I know of you thus far, you and your kin don't like being on the surface world as you call it up here?"

"No…I only spoke to my wife about it."

Naruto nodded and replied.

"That rules out the idea of our assassin being hired by people here since no one knew about this with the marked exception of us. That only means…someone in your land told him about your plan."

Aquaman's eyes widened at the implications of the Hokage's statement. That also got the attention of the League, Stewart most of all since he could easily see just what Naruto was getting at.

"Are you implying that one of my own people…"

"Hired that assassin to kill you and is a traitor? Yeah I am."

"That's preposterous, all of them are aware that what you are suggesting is that of treason and in Atlantis there are high punishments for treason."

Naruto shook his head at that and he had good reason to do so. He had his fair share of experiences with the situation Aquaman was in. His wife Koyuki was one such example and of course Hikaru and his father were another, and of course, reading history here in this reality told him all he needed to know.

"You might think it's preposterous, but I've had enough experience to know that it can be a very glaring possibility. Think about it carefully, if this was an attack by someone of the surface world, how could they have gotten their hands on an assassin on such short notice? Why the heck would he use that kind of a weapon to kill you? And how did they even know where you were going when you only spoke to your wife and we were in our little base and never told anyone else? Somebody had to have hired that assassin only when your plans were revealed to them, and the only way that happened is if they were eavesdropping on the conversation."

"And let's not forget there are always dissidents in any nation, yours is no different since I can suspect that some of your own people don't exactly get along with you."

Aquaman frowned at that as despite his desire to defend his people's honor and reputation, the masked fighter did raise a valid point. His thoughts went to Brak and his recent speech against launching an attack on the people of the surface even coming to the point of openly defying him in front of his wife and brother. And he also kept in mind that if that was the case, then there would be others too. But he was not going to accept that right away until he saw it for himself.

"You cannot expect me to just agree with you on this, even if your argument does possess merit. I need more proof in order to accept that what you say is the truth."

Naruto shrugged and replied.

"Hey, like I said, it's one possible theory on how you nearly got killed, it's up to you if you accept it or not. There's bound to be others to be sure, but you'll never know which one's the truth and which one's the dud. And there is an old saying…sometimes the worst enemies to a nation are not from outside…but within."

Batman then spoke.

"We'll work out those details later, I managed to pull some data on who your attacker was, the man's name is Deadshot, a highly skilled mercenary marksman which can explain why he nearly took you down even if he was using something not normally used by assassins. And knowing him, the news of you being alive is not going to sit well with him. He will try again both to finish the contract and protect his reputation."

Aquaman spoke next.

"Very well, what exactly do you suggest?"

Superman replied to that.

"If there's one thing high paid assassin's love more than money, it's their reputation like Batman said. That's how they get hired. The fact you are still alive since we did speak about you being confined here means that he will try again. We can however leak that while we have saved your life we have to get you to a more secure location as well as a facility with better equipment. He has no idea you already recovered and we made sure that only that last rumor left the hospital. So…we lure him here instead of having to chase him since we'll be spared having to search the entire city the normal way."

Naruto grinned at that and replied.

"Well now…deception and deceit from you of all people Superman? Looks like you're not the big blue boy-scout you show yourself to be."

Superman shrugged and smirked JUST a little.

"I have my moments, and I never did earn a merit badge myself anyhow. At any rate, if we do that, we can lure him out into the open and capture him for interrogation."

"And what am I to do?"

"Stay here, J'onn's a shape-shifter so you can guess who we are REALLY transporting."

Naruto smiled yet again…it seemed that if it was the only option, Superman can be just as devious and downright underhanded when it had to be done. Though that was only to fool people, he was still a straight up moral guy and Naruto was thankful for that. He was not too keen on the idea of a morally bankrupt Superman being head of this team anyways.

That however apparently did not sit all too well with Aquaman.

"I am to hide like a coward while this craven assassin lives?"

Naruto sighed, trust the guy to spoil the fun.

"You won't help your people much if you are a corpse you know."

That along with a bit more discussion finally convinced Aquaman to sit tight and let the League deal with this. Naturally though they left someone nearby to inform him and make sure he could wait for word of the Assassin being secured. Naturally being that he still did not trust the Atlantean king all that much, Stewart volunteered to keep an eye on him. Naruto groaned a bit mentally at that and hoped that they caught this guy before the two of them butted heads again.

(This is like putting Shukaku and Kurama in the same room.)

Kurama and the portion of Shukaku in Naruto replied in unison.

(("WE HEARD THAT!"))

…

Later…

The League quickly moved about as the news crews around the hospital began to report that they were going to move Aquaman to a more dedicated marine medical care and observation station. This was all a trap of course, as they were moving out quickly to wait for the assassin to make his move. The only one of the team who was not with them, was Green Lantern as he was watching over Aquaman as they had moved him quietly to another room to avoid word coming out that the Atlantean was alive and well.

All they allowed to come out apart from moving him was that Aquaman was still alive and was struggling to recover, They quickly got into position and waited for the right moment to occur as Aquaman came out from the hospital in a gurney. They will not have to wait long as the assassin came out from a nearby sewer and quickly moved to attack, this time carrying a much larger rocket launcher.

He got into position and aimed his weapon, intent on finishing his mission and not care about who got caught in the hit.

Unfortunately for him that was when Diana spotted him and told the others.

"There he is!"

Batman nodded as he looked with his binoculars.

"We see him!"

Before they could respond Deadshot fired the missile, but there was someone on the scene, the Hokage then infused some of his naturally born Wind chakra into his now fully extended Demon Windmill shuriken and he quickly fired it away, just as the rocket came out from the launcher/ The assassin had no time to react as the missile was cut in half a considerable distance the intended target and exploded. That had caught the people nearby off guard and that was when the League was on the move. The assassin however had to push even more as the blonde ninja was firing out several smaller shuriken and some spare kunai while the others followed in an effort to slow him down but not inflict fatal injury as he was needed alive for questioning after he recovered the much larger shuriken.

The Hokage stopped firing his weapons and then used his chakra chains to recover them. Once he was assured that all of the weapons were recovered, he then quickly moved down and landed on the ground with no problem and soon began to run while using his Tree Walking Jutsu to allow him to run on the sides of the buildings to catch up with the others, while using his Senjutsu to try and track the man, even with the interference around him.

One thing was sure in his mind though, this guy was NOT going to be easily caught.

…

Sure enough, the man did, as he entered the sewer and sealed the cover, Superman arrived and tried to follow him. He reached to remove the cover, but got hit by an unexpected amount of high voltage, Superman screamed at the unexpected surprise and was sent back smoking and unconscious. The man moved down and revealed that he had rigged a trap just in case he was being followed.

As soon as he got down, he removed his clothes and was in his suit, revealing himself to be truly Deadshot, the mercenary assassin cursed what happened and he knew that he had to cut the mission short. After all, what was the point of taking a contract if you die not doing it? Besides, he had a feeling that as long as he remained out of League reach he could find the man he was sent to kill later.

Batman and J'onn arrived after the disguised Martian helped the people and removed his disguise as Aquaman. Batman checked on Superman while J'onn went down to the sewers by being intangible. Deadshot moved past him as he quickly contacted Diana and Kory.

"Diana, Kory, be prepared, he is heading in your direction!"

Diana and Kory nodded as the two of them quickly moved off the building they were on and both women quickly struck the street sending out a shockwave that caused the road to cave down, forcing the assassin to the direction they both wanted. Neither super powered women wasted no time and ripped out the grid and moved down into the sewer, and the very second they did so the two of them were before the assassin.

The man turned his right to stop as Diana spoke, though the man's use of low level light only revealed her outline and that of Kory as Diana spoke.

"End of the line!"

The man replied calmly at that.

"Sorry, I'll take a detour."

Wonder Woman had no choice but to shield herself when the man fired a grenade into the roof and buried her in rubble as he sped away. Diana and Kory moved the rubble away from them and once their view was clear they tried to look for the man but it was clear that he got away from them. She however kept her cool and reported to the others.

"He managed to get away from me and Kory but he's moving to the other tunnel to the right."

…

Lantern looked at Aquaman carefully as he waited to get word from the others that the assassin was taken down and secured. Aquaman had indeed asked him of news, to which he responded that nothing was happening yet and he had to wait. However, that chance never came as Aquaman turned around and quickly slugged the Green Lantern in the face to knock him unconscious.

Aquaman looked at John Stewart as the former Marine was on the ground still alive and replied.

"You presume too much."

And with that, he left; time to him was too short in supply for him to wait.

…

Batman was not far behind as he quickly used his grappling gun to move out of the way as he placed traps on the path Deadshot was taking. The traps sent the motorcycle he was on crashing into the ground and Batman spoke to him seriously as Deadshot was not the kind of person to go down without a fight.

"Don't move!"

Deadshot however ignored that as he tossed some smoke grenades at Batman and escaped, using the scanners in his targeting system to move through the tunnels. Once he was clear and a fair distance from Batman, he climbed upwards to the sewer cover…right above his van.

As soon as he arrived and got into the van he went for the driver's seat, but not before checking his van's stock of ordnance from guns, sniper rifles, swords, daggers, explosives and the like. Seeing none missing he wasted no time in gunning the engine and make his escape. But as he did so, he was spotted by Superman and was soon being chased by the Man of Steel.

He focused so much on evading Superman that he failed to take into account that Superman was not the only League member tracking him. Naruto was there ahead of the van and waited patiently with his now Wind Chakra infused kunai at the ready and as soon as Superman burned the rear tire on the right side, he fired the kunai, one into the van's engine block, and two into the front tires. The Wind enhanced blades had no trouble cutting through the metal and soon burying themselves deep in the vehicle.

This stopped the vehicle and sent it crashing hard though Deadshot was alive but not able to go anywhere as Superman came and extracted him from the vehicle. The mercenary was more than willing to talk now as he knew that escape was impossible.

"Okay, okay, I give up."

Superman wasted little time as he knew that they had to hurry since he knew that the longer this went on, the higher the chance Aquaman would pack up and leave and make the situation worse.

"You were trying to kill Aquaman, why?"

Deadshot decided to take the more sarcastic route in this matter as the others arrived though John was a bit late.

"Oh, that's a good question there. Why would a hired gun try to kill someone? Simple, I was paid to do it."

Diana and Kory landed on either side of one another as the raven haired woman and the red haired alien woman were ready to find out what was going on as Batman, J'onn, and Naruto. Diana was the one to speak first and looked at the captured mercenary Deadshot.

"Then who gave you that order?"

"Yes I would like to know who ordered you to attack Aqua-man as well."

The mercenary looked at both the Amazon princess and the former Tamaranean Princess and had to admire the beauty both of them had. He was well aware that they could not harm him since doing so would make him clam up and not give them what they wanted. So in the mean time he was going to have some fun at their expense, or rather at the expense of the two beautiful women who were there.

"Sorry ladies...but it would be a blow to my professional reputation if I talk. However...if you both make worth my time... I might change my mind."

Diana frowned darkly at the implications of that statement and amazingly enough, so did Kory as she frowned instead of having her usual smile on her face. The Amazon princess had a very accurate idea on what was cooking in the man's head and the same could be said of Kory. She could sense the malevolent and perverse emotions being directed at her and Diana and it did not sit well with her one bit.

However before either of them could react, Naruto was the one to make the move himself. The blonde Hokage did not need to have his wife Hinata's Byakugan to know the perverted smirk in the face of Deadshot when he looked at both Kory and Diana. It angered him that this merc thought that he was going to be snide about this and act like this was fun. His killing intent began to filter out of him once more but he decided to direct it in a more straight forward approach.

He walked up to Superman and replied in a very neutral tone.

"Let me see if I can convince him to talk."

Superman was quick to see the body language and could tell that Naruto was not happy with Deadshot's comments. Neither was he but he recalled the amount of killing intent the blond had revealed when he got enraged at Stewart from before. He worried about that but decided to let Naruto have a go at it.

The merc looked at Naruto and snorted.

"So the ninja wants a crack at making me talk? What exactly are you going to do to me?"

Naruto then spoke in an undeniably evil but joyful tone.

"Funny you should ask."

Before Deadshot could respond Naruto grabbed a long Senbon out from his pouch and then jammed it into Deadshot's leg with blinding speed. The merc could only scream in pain as the long needle punched easily through his uniform, the armor, then the flesh, and the tip soon buried itself into the bone. The tip actually was coated in a thin amount of Wind Chakra to enhance the cutting or rather piercing effect of the weapon. But it was soon followed by another senbon piercing his other leg which sent him down to his knees in pain as the other needle was now buried into the bone.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Deadshot looked up at the Hokage in shock and shouted at him.

"What the FUCK?!"

Naruto however replied with a hard slap into the face that sent Deadshot to land on the ground with the sound of what was cracked teeth as Naruto then made him move back to his knees as he spoke in a cold merciless tone.

"Watch your language merc…you should consider yourself lucky I didn't drive those senbon in far more vital areas. Now, do I have your attention?"

Deadshot swore and tried to attack Naruto, only for Naruto to suddenly grab one senbon, namely the one buried in the right thigh of the merc and he then channeled Lightning chakra into the needle. The needle lit up briefly and crackled as lightning danced over the metal and soon Deadshot was screaming in pain as he felt he was being electrocuted. Just as briefly as the pain hit him in the face, the blonde cut the flow of Lightning chakra to the needle, and in turn into Deadshot.

"Let me repeat that…do I have your attention?"

"Yeah…you sick mo…"

"Finish that last sentence Deadshot and I will fire enough lightning into your nerve system and your heart in particular to give you a heart attack. Or I could fire enough to actually boil all the liquid in your body to the point you'll know what it's like to be a turkey in a microwave. So, one more time before I decide to fry you…do I have your attention?"

"Yeah you do! Stop it already!"

Naruto snorted and replied.

"Not until you listen to what I have to say merc. First, you will apologize to both Wonder Woman and Starfire. And second, you are going to tell us who hired you to kill Aquaman,"

'What?!"

Naruto growled at that and replied.

"Don't pretend you did not hear me fool. You will apologize to Wonder Woman and Starfire or else I am going to make you feel pain like you wouldn't believe. Take this as a warning, I happen to have a very high level of respect for both Wonder Woman and Starfire, both are trusted allies of mine and I consider them to be important to me enough that I will gladly fight to the death to make sure no one harms them. That includes you merc trash, if you had cooperated you would not be in this situation, so where is the apology?"

Deadshot was not going to go down quietly though and shouted.

"Go Fuck Yourself you freak! And the same goes for your bitch friends too!"

Naruto growled at that and then grabbed the other Senbon and then pumped a larger dosage of Lightning chakra into Deadshot than before. Not enough to kill to be sure, but to hurt the man like there was no tomorrow. The man screamed and writhed in pain as arcs of lightning surrounded him and came from the senbon, he pain only grew as the energy flowed through his bones as well which REALLY hurt like crazy. This lasted for only four seconds before Naruto powered down, but Deadshot was groaning and twitching in pain.

Naruto waited a bit until Deadshot was coherent and replied.

"Let's try that again since I am going to pretend I did not hear you call my friends that. Apologize to them."

"SCREW YOU!"

"Bad choice of words…let's up the amps then!"

Soon Deadshot was writhing in agony as lightning coursed through him, only this time the arcs were larger and more potent as he wailed desperately in pain. Naruto did not reach lethal point yet but he was tempted to do so after the insults. He soon stopped and this time Deadshot was smoking a bit, gasping for air and obviously twitching harder than ever before. Naruto stopped the flow and spoke once more.

"I hope you can smell yourself Deadshot cause right now you smell like fried chicken…so unless you want to be roasted, you will apologize."

"FUCK YOU!"

Naruto sighed and replied.

"All right then…let's REALLY amp it up."

And sure enough, the merc was subjected to double the power as before, still in the non-lethal range, but definitely enough to cause serious damage to nerves and muscles as the merc twitched and shuddered as the pain increased for him. Soon Deadshot was really in pain and gasping from the effects as Naruto spoke once more once he stopped trying to literally light the man up.

"You think I am not going to go too far Deadshot? Think again, if I have to fire enough lightning energy into you to literally light you up like a Christmas tree I will. And if I have to go as far as to unleash enough lightning into you to actually let us see your skeleton I will. I will do what I have to in order to prevent a war, a war you started when you did that to Aqua-man as well as demand an apology for the bullshit you spewed at my friends. Now either you do as I said or…|

Deadshot couldn't take anymore and shouted.

"All right! ALL RIGHT! I'm SORRY!"

"That is NOT how you do it merc! Do it again!"

"W-What?!"

Naruto made him look at Wonder Woman and then to Starfire who were surprised at all this and he then spoke.

"You will look each of them in the eye and you WILL say their names in perfect order and apologize for your words. YOU WILL mean every last word of it, because if you lie…and believe me I can sense when one is lying, I will really make you scream in pain. And you will show respect to women in the near future. And if you don't and I find out about it…well then, it's human Christmas tree time for you."

Deadshot did not hesitate to do it as he looked first at Diana and apologized using her full name and then did the same to Kory. Once that was over and Naruto seemed satisfied with it, he spoke once more.

"All right, not so hard to say sorry now is it merc? Now then, on to the second question, who hired you to kill Aqua-man?"

"I…I don't know who hired me, all I got was the fish guy's name and my payment. I never ask questions about the target and who's the one placing the hit."

Batman soon stepped in though he kept an eye on the actually century old blonde ninja who still had his hands on the senbon. The show that Naruto gave when he showed a more ruthless side to himself was new but he ignored that, and he figured he could talk to the blonde later once Deadshot was done talking.

"That is not good enough Deadshot."

Naruto nodded a bit and replied.

"Pretty vague too…shall I…"

"NO! NO MORE DAMN IT! LET ME FINISH HERE! The only thing that was weird is how I was paid…look, it's in the van."

Superman took the cue and so did Batman as the pair headed to the mercenary's truck and soon found a chest and broke it open. There they found coins, all made of solid gold and with markings. All of which were easily recognized by the Dark Knight.

"Spanish doubloons, all during the Colonization period of Spain…each is worth atleast one hundred thousand dollars right now."

Superman nodded in agreement and spoke as well/

"And all of them are in mint condition too…money like this is not found anywhere and certainly not in amounts like this. Only place that this many could be found is from a sunken treasure ship…"

J'onn then commented.

"Atlantis is the only place then, the amount here is impossible to gain from any vault or collection."

Deadshot then spoke,.

"There! You got your answers…now get this freak off of me!"

Naruto glared a bit behind his mask and merely reached to the side of Deadshot's neck and pressed, knocking the man out cold.

As soon as Deadshot was out cold, Batman walked over to Naruto and spoke darkly.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"What? You mean the shock therapy Deadshot went through?"

"We do NOT torture people."

"I know…but we're on the cusp of war here Batman, there's no time for being nice about it, not with the lives of who knows how many people at stake. I never enjoy torture even if I seem good at it, It's messy, and sometimes the bad guys say anything for the pain to stop and that ruins any chance of getting good and trustworthy information. But if it's the only viable option that is available then I'll take it and deal with the outcome later. Besides, Deadshot already knew we could not do anything physical to him to get the information so he was playing hard to get. Not to mention acting like an ass and a pervert, wasting time and no doubt allowing his contractor back in Atlantis to do who knows what. And what I've seen in terms of the money…the guy who paid him is high up there in whatever hierarchy Atlantis has."

Superman began to grasp this and nodded.

"I don't approve of it Batman, and I hope that Hokage does not make a habit of it, but we have to take into account what we've learned. This much money means that whoever bankrolled Deadshot is indeed high up in Atlantis."

Kory then replied.

"Perhaps he is a noble then?"

Diana agreed at that as well.

"I can agree for Starfire since only high ranking nobles could have access to such wealth in what I have learned in my studies about kingdoms that are like that of Atlantis in ancient times…but that means!"

Batman nodded reluctantly though he still planned to make sure to have the Hokage rein in or remove the need for him to resort to these kinds of tactics.

"That the one who hired Deadshot is a member of Atlantean high society…or even one of the royal family if Aquaman is indeed king which means that if he goes back…he is walking into a trap."

Naruto groaned as he felt that this was way too familiar for his liking.

"Well then, we'd better go find old royal sourpuss and inform him about what we found, and stop him from doing something stupid."

"Good luck with that."

The others turned to see none other than John flying back to them with him rubbing the back of his head.

"The impatient royal pain in the ass knocked me out and left already while you guys were chasing Deadshot. No doubt he's gone back to Atlantis right now."

Naruto groaned and slapped his forehead in exasperation.

"Wonderful…now he's walked right into a trap he doesn't even know about."

The others also felt greatly worried by all this and it was Diana who spoke out what she felt was most appropriate.

"Hera help him."

…

In Atlantis…

Naruto and the others were right to be worried as Aquaman walked into Atlantis, the whole situation for him felt wrong. There was a lot of grieving and anger towards the surface dwellers, far more than even he had expected when they caught the submarine nearly two days ago. He also was surprised to learn that the Atlantean military was being given a full mobilization order to go to war with the surface dwellers. That really made him concerned as he had left no such order to the generals when he left.

What doubled his worries was the fact that some of the soldiers he met were stunned to see him alive, one of them even had the gall to demand him to halt and explain why he would dare take the countenance of the recently slain king. That surprised him immensely and he demanded who had stated that he had been killed. The answer that it was Orm who had made that response made him quickly realize that something was horribly wrong, even more so when the words of the one in the League called the Hokage came back to him.

The words that implying that there was indeed a traitor in the ranks of his people and possibly the one who hired that assassin to kill him when he had gone to the surface.

(Can he be right? Can there really be a traitor in my kingdom?)

(Is Orm a co-conspirator…or is he the one who is the leader of this…insurrection?)

(No! I cannot make such a judgment until I know more.)

But as he got to the throne-room he listened into what seemed to be someone rousing others in a martial speech…and he recognized just how was speaking.

"The time has come brothers! The time to finally bring the surface dwellers to justice for all of their crimes! We shall invade the surface and make them regret angering us, and soon they shall be our servants!"

The cheers coming from the throne room filled Arthur with absolute shock and he decided to quit hiding and burst through the door, the cheers quickly died down as many people looked at his direction as he spoke.

'What is the meaning of this Orm?!"

Orm then spoke as Aquaman came closer.

"Brother, I was doing what I felt was right…I had thought that you were…"

"Dead?"

He marched towards his brother, angered at the sight of his half brother wielding the Trident of Poseidon and wearing the crown as if both were his. The line of succession in Atlantis was clear to all and, as he could now see that his brother had not even taken the time to learn his true condition and tell their people that he was not dead.

"As you can see brother, I am not yet dead, and now I want answers!"

"Answers to what brother?"

"You ask me of that? Why are you ordering the mobilization of the fleet and our soldiers?"

"I am doing what I feel is right, this affront to our people by the surface dwellers must be avenged! And what better way to do it than by using our technology and manpower to end the threat forever of the surface dwellers who pollute our seas, and encroach our borders with impunity."

Aquaman could not help but feel his anger and worry build, and he made that clear.

"I may have been injured in my time on the surface brother, but I am not dead, I am still king Orm. I did not give any order to start a foolhardy war with the surface! I gave the both of you and Brak strict orders to…"

Orm glared at him and replied.

"You don't seem to get it brother…I am now the one giving the others around here."

"Orm, you are forgetting that I am alive and I am still king! And as King I am ordering you to stand down! Or else I shall mark you as a traitor!"

Orm glared and replied darkly at his half brother.

"You say that I am the traitor? It is you who is the traitor here; you sold us out the surface dwellers when we could have easily overpowered them with our technology. We have the manpower and weaponry to end their blight once and for all, and all you have done is avoid it! You are a coward and a true traitor to the power of Atlantis brother, and you're wasteful and weak reign is at an end!"

That was more than enough to finally push Aquaman's buttons as he could not stand hearing this from his own sibling of all people.

"Enough of this! Guards! Arrest the traitor!"

Aquaman looked at the men who were there in the room alongside him, Orm and Brak, he then recognized them to be Brak's men. He hoped that even with his war hawk like nature, Brak and in turn his own men would still remember his and their sworn loyalty to his king and that was him by right and choice by their father, and not some pretender even if it was Orm. But that proved to be a flaw…

Orm spoke in an arrogant and utterly satisfied tone to the soldiers with him and Brak.

"You heard him…arrest the traitor."

Aquaman was shocked even more when instead of arresting Orm as was ordered, the soldiers of Brak followed Orm instead! They aimed their weapons at him and before he could react, the others nearby grabbed him and held him fast, rendering him unable to fight back without increased force. There and then he realized that he had indeed a traitor in his kingdom…and the traitor was not alone, nor was the traitor without power and resources.

(That one known as the Hokage was right! I have been betrayed! And by Orm and Brak as well!)

"YOU TRAITOR!"

"Say what you want brother, but your time as King has passed, soon, I will accomplish what you have been too cowardly and cautious to do! To end ALL threats to Atlantis' greatness! And when I am rid of you and all of those who follow your weak rulership…everything that should have been mine WILL be mine!"

With that, Aquaman was forced away by Brak's men and he could only watch in ever increasing fury at his traitorous sibling who now had taken the throne. That fury was matched by the shock at the discovery of the fact that he had been fully blinded by his worries towards the surface world and the surface dwellers, that he had not watched out for the enemies who were around him already.

He managed to free himself and fought off the people restraining him and tried to attack but he was shocked by the Trident and before he fell to unconsciousness, he saw his brother smiling darkly at him before darkness claimed him.

Orm smiled darkly as his brother was led away, he might be alive and his surface world hired assassin had failed him, but that could soon be remedied. Once his half brother was gone, then he could finally begin his rule and bring not just Atlantis under his rule, but the surface world once it was purged of the surface dwellers.

And soon all of the world shall be his to rule as was his right as the true king of Atlantis, and any surviving surface dweller shall learn their place…under his rule as slaves for the glory of Atlantis.

And despite his actions, he had to thank his brother for he had the means to do so…and now he had the materials so provided by his unwitting brother and the surface dwellers.

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Well, the cat or rather the fish is out of the bag now…

Aquaman has buried his head deep in this one as Orm begins to take over Atlantis and all manner of trouble is coming in to the story for the League. Though you can bet that with Naruto and Starfire along for the ride on this mission, things get very interesting for the gang here.

Now on the matter of Naruto using the torture method on Deadshot, I had been planning that for a very long time actually. I could have gone for the Killing Intent bit but after the confrontations bit of Naruto and John I felt doing so would be a rehash of it, and so I dumped the idea. Plus I got some flak from the whole rant thing, for which I have apologized for in the past.

You can bet though that the show of ruthlessness is going to be a sore point for the others in the League and Batman obviously is the one who is more vocal about it. But I can tell you that I have made this plan for a long time and I do not plan to deviate from the course. I made it this far so I might as well see it through, both in good water and bad water.

Will it be the last time?

Not too sure yet.

And if there are errors here, feel free to PM me and point them out. Just be constructive and helpful...flame me and I will remove you in a heartbeat.

…

On the topic of Starfire's actions in the chapter, I HAVE seen her fly about without a stitch of clothing on in one panel of a comic, never knew where or which comic it was, but it was there. DC may have faded the full frontal to black but I don't need Superman's vision to know just WHY they darkened it. And let's not forget that DC does not always shy away from sensitive topics even if they censor it.

Speaking of topics, I have no doubt that a lot of guys would ask me about the lemons for this story.

They are coming and will be in the Dragon Champion Lemon format so stop worrying about it. I have also plans to move on to the next Naruto fic in the update list.

…

See you all soon!


	12. Chapter 13

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Justice League so don't breathe down my neck about it…

Underwater Battle Royale Part 2

( ): Thoughts

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

In Atlantis…

Aquaman was utterly outraged and it was not merely anger at Orm, but himself as well. All this time the blonde who was with Superman had been right all along. His pride, and his unwillingness to consider the possibility that there was indeed a traitor in his kingdom led to this. He was filled also with an absolute loathing for the soldiers who willingly went along with this and saw the arrogant smirk on Brak's face. That slimy bastard had been part of it this the whole time and now he realized just WHY Brak was so willing to defy him in the throne room before.

He and Orm had planned this all from the start…and he only helped to make the process a lot faster than before.

He could not help but feel the pain of that truth become more potent when he had to deal with Orm gloating about his plan as well as taunting him about his view on his leadership.

"I had to stand by and watch you lead Atlantis and our people to stagnation and ruin all because of your unwillingness to do what should be our destiny! To take the surface world and show those surface dwellers that we are their betters! Instead our home gets polluted and whgat is rightfully that of Atlantis get taken and perverted by this primates above us! No more shall I let this happen!"

"You are insane Orm! This is treason of the highest level and you know it!"

"Treason? This is insurrection dear brother, a just insurrection to remove one who is lazy and truly worthless as leader of this nation. Take him away!"

Aquaman roared in anger and soon broke free, smashing blows into the now revealed traitor soldiers to his kingdom and he intended to smash his fist right into the face of his traitorous sibling. However Orm blasted him with the Trident's power, fouling Arthur's attempt to fight and the former king was now secured by the traitors.

Orm looked at his sibling with now undisguised disgust and arrogance.

"Take him away."

Brak smiled at that and replied.

"At once My Lord."

As Aquaman was taken away, Orm began to think on his plans to finally take control of not merely Atlantis but the surface world as well. That was not the only direction his thoughts were going though, he had to deal with Mera and his nephew. But just as he was about to go into that direction, the object of the new train of thought in his mind came to him.

"Orm! I have been hearing rumors that Aquaman is alive here in Atlantis. Is that possible!"

Orm tried to and managed to maintain a calm and serious visage though mentally speaking he was utterly livid with the idea that the reports of his bother had reached Mera's ears, But at least she had not been here to see them dragging away Arthur when he had shot his brother with the Trident.

"I am afraid I cannot confirm or deny those rumors Mera, for all we know it could be some impostor or merely the stress of Arthur's loss that is affecting our people."

Mera was not too pleased by this but spoke.

"How can you say such things Orm? We have not yet confirmed anything?"

"I know, but we have to assume the worst until we find out more Mera. I will do all that I can to protect you…and your son."

Mera may have been a very beautiful woman and a member of nobility, but she was not the least bit foolish., The way Orm spoke might have been an attempt to placate her. But the very fact that he was doing so in a tone that was odd, made Mera a lot more worried as well as suspicious. And being the woman of courage that Arthur had known her to be, she spoke.

"What do you mean by that Orm?"

That was more than enough to make Orm realize that his attempt was not working so he tried be a bit more forceful.

"I mean what I said Mera, cooperate and nothing will happen to you and your son."

That was more than enough to finally convince Mera that something horrible was happening here and she quickly left the room to look for her son. The second she entered the private room of her family she saw to the cradle holding her child. Only to find that her son was no longer in there in his crib and as far as she knew he was wrapped snuggly in his blanket. The sight of it all filled her with horror and shock as she tried to find out what was going on.

She however knew full wel now who was the one responsible for this event of horror and as she turned to look, she saw Orm looking at her. She felt shock, anger, and great fear, the last emotion due to what could be lurking in Orm's mind concerning her son.

"Why are you doing this Orm?!"

"I am merely doing that needs to be done on account of your husband's foolish tolerance of the surface dwellers."

"By declaring war against them?!"

"It is already underway Mera, do not interfere."

Orm then left, and made sure to silently signal some of his loyal followers to keep an eye on the Queen, once he disposed of both Arthur and his son, then he will rule what was his by right. And with enough time, even Mera herself would soon be his. The idea made the betrayer of Aquaman smile even more as this would be his grandest moment. The surface dwellers had provided him with the means to enact his plan, and it was his own soon to be removed brother who allowed him to get it.

"Oh the irony…"

Orm whispered to himself to avoid alerting anyone, a sound move on his part when one of the members of the Atlantean Navy came with a report.

"Lord Orm, we have news!"

"Report!"

"Our scanners have picked up the same craft used by the surface dwellers who came to save the submarine's crew."

Orm gave a dark look at that and decided that dealing with them first was of high priority before moving the rest of his plan. Besides, they had to be contained lest they reveal the truth of his part in the attempt on his brother's life. And they could be used as scapegoats once secured and de-powered with some devices of his.

"Deal with them in the manner those barbarians deserve. If you secure them alive, bring them to me so I can question them before I go to deal with the rest of their kind."

"Yes my Lord!"

…

In the Javelin…

The heroes of the League were not too happy with what they were doing since there was no telling what would happen once they got to Atlantis. The head start Aquaman had on them was a lot though at least with the Javelin they had made good time. Still that hardly meant that they were in a relaxed mood, and like before they had more than enough good reason to be worried though they also tried to be optimistic of their chances. Naruto on the other hand was not the least bit pleased by all of this. His long life and experiences back home made him more than aware that things would get really problematic once they got there.

Kory spoke to Naruto who had a grim look on his face as he was devoid of the mask for now.

'Are you all right Friend Hokage?"

Naruto's grim look did not leave him and he sighed as he replied.

"No I am not to be honest Kory-chan…this is a very dangerous situation we all walked into. I have no doubt that the very second we get to Atlantis we are going to be in for a fight."

Superman then replied.

"We should at the very least try to avoid that, we're not here to start a war Hokage."

"We might not be…but whoever is the one who hired Deadshot certainly is. Remember that this guy is influential with that kind of wealth, allies, and has connections no doubt. The very second that Aquaman got there, they no doubt are holding him captive and the very second we show up, they may very well give the Atlantean Navy orders to shoot us on sight."

That got their attention well enough as they agreed that Naruto had a point and John replied.

"Then we're going to have to be ready for the worst."

Diana then replied.

"True, but we still need to know just who the true enemy here is, we know that the enemy is no doubt of noble lineage in Atlantis and no doubt has vast fortunes to fund this…coup. But I cannot fathom on who it may be since my people have little contact with them so we have no idea if there are people with ill intent towards Aquaman and willing to go to full scale war. Superman, you dealt with Aquaman before than any of us, is there anything you can share that might help use shed some light on this?"

Superman thought about it and replied with s reluctant shake of his head.

"Afraid not, my meeting with Aquaman years ago had me and Lois facing him and his fleet to convince him that war is not the solution. I never went to Atlantis at all so I have no clue on the political landscape at all. Besides I don't think they would have liked the idea of someone from the surface there."

John replied.

"Well that complicates things, but from a military standpoint, I can bet the person's got either support from the military or if persons, then one of them no doubt would naturally be high up in the military ladder. You can't have a coup if you don't have military backing after all."

Kory then replied.

"Then we must be ready friends…for we have company."

Kory's statement proved accurate as they soon spotted a number of ships, Atlantean ships coming in. Superman gave a sigh and knew that it was decision time.

"John, try to contact them and tell them that we're not here for conflict we…"

Naruto however broke free from his stance and spoke, grim focus on his face.

"We're too late!"

…

Sure enough the Atlantean ships open fired on the Javelin and they all knew there and they it was no longer time to talk, but to fight. The Justice League quickly trooped out of the Javelin and they knew that the fight could not be avoided. Naruto was once more using the chakra shroud to allow him to not only move in the water but also to breathe and took out his sword as he and the others were now in the water. Superman was obviously not the least bit happy but he knew that there was no other option when the Atlantean ships began to fire their weapons at them.

Naruto managed to block several attacks in close combat with several attacking Atlanteans on their usual rides. Naruto managed to channel his Wind Chakra to allow his sword better flow in the water as well as increased cutting power to cut their weapons into the weapons of the Atlanteans. The blonde then knocked the attackers of their bikes and then joined the others as more of them came to take him and the others out.

Superman quickly came to the aid of J'onn when the Martian got attacked from the side and managed to take down the shooter and sent him off from his ride. J'onn likewise turned intangible to another attack coming at him and then became tangible to grab the Atlantean and send him off his ride with a toss.

Kory was moving quickly through the water and moved to land a punch into the face of another Atlantean to send him off his ride while firing one of her green star bolts into another riding his vehicle, forcing him to leave his ride or risk being blown apart with it. That allowed Starfire to close the gap, evading his shots with his weapon and landing another kick.

Wonder Woman was quick to fight back against her own attackers, using her bracers to block several more blasts aimed at her direction by two more attacking Atlanteans. She then redirected the attacks towards the attackers and managed to destroy one Atlantean on his ride by redirecting the shots into the vehicle in question and that allowed her to move in, blocking the next attacks with the same method with her bracers and then managing to avoid another barrage by moving up and over the incoming forces and then using her lasso to grab the nearest Atlantean and then yank him off his ride, slamming him into his companion.

The rest of the League managed to take down a few more of the subs that were trying to destroy them with the use of torpedoes and they evaded them. Once the Atlanteans were moving away from the fight, the League moved forward to get to Atlantis, but Naruto was not comfortable with the idea of them being able to make it this far. If the Atlanteans had pushed this a lot more than what they had just done, they would have managed to overpower them as fighting in water was not as easy for some of the team, most of all him.

However he was not the only one who had doubts.

(("Something is not right Naruto, these Atlanteans are pulling back instead of attacking us outright. This is not an ideal battle ground for us and they have the terrain advantage…so why would they give ground?"))

(I agree with that Kurama but they might not have the numbers to maintain their attack.)

((Maybe…but I doubt that is so simple…this is their backyard so why are they not fighting hard?"))

John then spoke out as he blasted down another pair of Atlanteans with his ring.

"They are falling back, this is our chance to get closer to Atlantis."

They moved forward but Naruto's senses were still warning him and Kurama was also more than willing to point out that this whole situation was way too easy for them. The blonde Shinobi was more than willing to agree with the whole thing and soon their combined worries were proven to be accurate when several areas of the nearby terrain suddenly popped up to release strange containers but all of which was sending bad vibes with Naruto, along with the fact that this time instead of engaging them head on, the apparent Atlanteans forces were forcing to keep their distance.

Naruto managed to use his chakra shroud briefly to avoid an incoming hit from one such weapon, only through his still potent chakra and intense training plus Kurama's own that he was able to withstand the attack. That very same attack however sent him away from the others and just as they were about to get to him, the canisters went off. They turned out to be depth charges and more than enough to stun the League. Naruto saw that but knew that he needed to avoid the rest of the attack and quickly guided himself away from the area.

(I hate doing this…but I have to make sure some of us don't get caught so we can rescue the others.)

Kurama merely growled a bit in agreement as they both knew that if all of them got caught no one was going to rescue them. The fact that they still had no idea just how things were in Atlantis itself was enough to tell them that looking for allies in said city was optimistic at best, and foolish at worst. His time as Hokage had never been easy, but they had their good points and right now he had to use what he learned to good effect.

Unfortunately he had lost one of his swords in the battle and while he was loath to leave his weapon behind, he decided to retrieve it later. If he knew one thing, if the bad guys did not find him, they usually would take something as a way to prove to their leader that he was gone. That or use his sword as a way to weaken the resolve of his allies to resist them. A good tactic too and one that he knew the Hidden Villages, even his own at times used when the situation was enough to warrant it's use.

But it was going to work to his advantage.

…

In Atlantis…

The rest of the League were not in the best of shape after being hit by those depth charges and right now they were being held not merely by restraints. They were unable to use their full powers due to what appeared to be some form of power limiter and restraint that drained even Superman's strength. They had awakened in these restraints and learned of the power restrictors when they tried to move. It was not something they liked to happen to them but right now they had to try and find out if they could find Aquaman and hopefully stop this from going any further than it already had.

They were soon in the room and surrounded by a large number of Atlantean nobles and naturally before them was Orm. Though it was obvious that none of the League had any idea that the one who was before them was the mastermind.

"What are you surface dwellers doing here in the sacred halls of Atlantis?"

The League looked at him and Superman was the one to speak first.

"We came here looking for Aquaman…"

"You barbarians have the audacity to come here looking for the very man you killed?!"

"Aquaman is not dead."

Orm smirked mentally at that but still retained the visage of an enraged brother to the king for his people.

(You are correct fool….my brother is indeed not dead. But I plan to fix that little snag soon enough.)

"What manner of trickery is this?!"

J'onn tried to use his telepathy but had no luck due to the restraints, but spoke anyway.

"There is no trick involved, we sent out news that he was in critical condition only to lure out his would be assassin."

"Really? And what happened afterwards surface scum?"

John growled at that but kept himself focused for now even though it galled him not to be able to use his ring.

"We managed to find said assassin and learned who ordered the hit on him, but before we could inform him, he left us and so we tried to follow him before he came here."

"And why is that?"

Wonder Woman then spoke.

:Because we have learned that the one who hired the assassin, one Deadshot by name had been hired by someone who had access to treasure only found in Atlantis."

Orm was angry at this, he felt that he should have sent someone far more powerful than some two bit surface dwelling mercenary scum to deal with his brother. The fool said he was th best at what he did, but apparently had not finished the job he was hired for. No matter, once he conquered the surface world he would find this merc and make him suffer unheard of agony for his failure. But for now…he had a show to play out.

"You dare to accuse one of our people as being complicit to the death of our king! My brother?! I should have your heads for this!"

Starfire then spoke.

"It all true! We have no reason to lie!"

Orm snorted and replied.

"You surface scum all lie, regardless of your form and looks. You dare to assume that you can come here to accuse us of plotting to kill our king?! I shall have you suffer dearly for this!"

Diana then spoke.

"We know Aquaman returned to your kingdom to find out the truth! He was told of the possibility of there being a traitor in Atlantis before he came here. As long as one of us is not chained here, the truth will come out."

Orm then spoke.

"You mean your companion who owned this sword?"

He presented the recovered sword of the Hokage and the sight of the weapon was shocking to the rest of the League as they recognized the sword. Clark was shocked along with J'onn and Stewart was also shocked in the sense that he expected the blonde ninja was out of the firing line. But it was both Diana and Kory who were struck more than the others, the former was saddened at the possibility of the loss of one of the few to welcome her into Man's world and someone she respected for his actions. And the latter obviously was utterly saddened by the possibility that her only friend in this new world was lost to her and she was unable to do anything about it.

Orm was more than willing to milk this and spoke.

"His body was never found by my men, and considering the lies you said, I could care less if he is alive or not. Take them away! They will be the first to die for their crime of murdering our beloved king!"

Superman spoke out despite the fact that he and the others were being taken away.

"Aquaman is not dead! He is here already in this city, whoever is the traitor is hiding this from you all."

"Lies! All nothing more than lies by surface dwellers! Take them away and deal with them."

"Yes my Lord!"

As the guards took the League members away, Orm began to look over the population and could tell that there was going to be a lot that had to be done.

…

But for now, he had the momentum and he was going to make sure that he was going to be able to use all of it to finally bring his plans to completion. For now however, he needed to take care of other important matters that could not be delayed.

The others were not in the best of shape at this point as the water soon began to rise towards them. Orm however made sure that the water was going up at a fast but controlled pace, no doubt wanting to avor their suffering before ending them. That disgusted the League and while they knew that they were powerless, they tried to find a way free themselves. J'onn was not pleased one bit by all this, unlike most of his compatriots, he did not need oxygen to breathe and therefore was not in danger of drowning as the others were.

And had he been able to use his powers, he could have easily escaped, but with the power restrictor on, he could not becoming intangible and free the others. Thus he had the worst of it right now since he was now powerless in saving the others from what was to come.

…

Orm unfortunately made a serious mistake in stating that Naruto was no longer along the land of the living. He had NOT made the proper action of confirming that the blonde really was dead, because he was anything but dead. And where was the blonde shinobi in question right now?

He was coming for the others.

And to make things a lot more complicated, was that a certain red haired Atlantean Queen had managed to listen in and was now resolved in what she needed to do.

…

Back outside…

The two Atlanteans did not think much on what the fate was of the missing surface dweller as there was no sign of a body, just rubble on the supposed cave he was hiding. They were only able to see a floating clump of sea weed heading in their direction. And what exactly could that seaweed do to them in the first place anyway?

"There's no sign of this surface dweller at all."

"I know…I rather doubt anyone could survive that kind of barrage."

"True enough since we only found that sword of his and not much else, so I don't think we can stay here much longer, we should report back to the city and get ready to move out with the others."

They did not care much for anything else at this point and decided to go for their plan to head back to the city but as they were about to head back to the city and pass over the sea weed, they were suddenly attacked by chains from nowhere and were dragged off their bikes. They turned and soon saw the sea weed turn into the surface dweller that they had been sent to deal with. Their shock ended as Naruto quickly smashed them hard in the face. Once they were knocked out cold, the blonde ninja looked their vehicle over he found what appeared to be cuffs of some metal. He took the devices and soon restrained the two.

Once he was done, he headed out to where Atlantis was while using his chakra to move forward like before. He soon saw the city and could not help but whistle mentally to himself at the sight of the city even though he was looking only at the dome that covered it. It was big…really big and he could see just why Aquaman would do all in his power and authority to protect it. But right now he had to focus on infiltrating the city and finding the others before they made their move to neutralize the leaders of the revolt and find Aquaman.

It was here that he managed to get into contact with Batman, the Dark Knight had stayed behind to make sure that he could keep track of the movements of the Atlanteans. Now that he knew was not being followed he spoke to Batman.

"Batman, you there?"

"Yes I am, where are the others? I lost track of you all when the Javelin got attacked."

"We're right on the money here Batman, the traitor or traitors have already taken over, my guess is they must have guys in the military or the one doing this is head of it all. As for the others, after we ditched the Javelin after they attacked, we got broken up by underwater mines, came too later but the others aren't with me."

"Alive?"

"Possibly, no bodies at all right now that I can sense…though with all this sea life and the fact I'm still getting used to being this deep in the water, I can't track them accurately enough, but they no doubt are in Atlantis since I can sense their chakra faintly right now. Where in the city I can't say since something apart from what I mentioned is interfering with my attempts to track them."

"Neither can I…apparently there's some form of blocking field on the city of Atlantis."

"All right…I know you are still pissed off about the whole Deadshot thing, and I apologize for that, but we have to keep focus here since there's too much at stake."

"I know that…but don't do that again if you can find another way…I won't condone it and neither will the others. If I have to, I will kick you out of the League myself."

Naruto heard the edge there in the voice and replied.

"Fair enough…at any rate, I'll head into the city and find the others, if we can bring that field or whatever it is blocking you, then we'll contact you."

"Got it, I'll try and find a way to bypass it on my end."

…

Near one of the docks…

Two Atlantean sentries were on routine patrol and making sure no one would sneak into the place, though they were not sure just who was going to sneak into the city right now. They had not been told if there would be any other surface dwellers and they were more than willing to see this campaign against the barbarian surface dwellers go underway. However, they made the mistake of doing so with their backs turned to the water nearby…and out came none other than Naruto who moved slowly out of the water and then made his move.

He used his kunai with ninja wire to grab the guard and drag him back before the Atlantean knew what was happening. Once he did so, he smashed his target's fist to knock the guy out. And while doing so quickly moved at high speed towards the next one and his training, stamina, and whatnot gave him an edge. He might not be as fast as Flash, but he got the job done and that at times counted more than anything.

"Good night!"

The last guard turned to receive one mean uppercut to the face that sent him flying, courtesy of one very irate blonde Shinobi as the other three were now out cold from the attacks of his two Kage Bunshin. Once they were secured and out of sight, the blonde sent them out to try and get the lay of the land of the city…and possibly locate his friends a bit more effectively as well as give any roving guards something or in this case someone else to worry about. He moved quickly through the city and then got to the highest point on the area that he could find and when he was clear, he began to summon the Nature charka into himself.

Immediately he was in Sage Mode and began to scan the area to locate the others. Overtime when he had been able to work with the League he decided to familiarize himself with their respective chakra signatures. And it was not very long that in this morass of beings, he found them since they each had one that was unique.

He had no problem locating Superman and the others but noted that while they were alive, none of them were moving at all. That was something he did not like one bit as that meant that they were being held captive, and considering the sheer amount of power and talent in the collection of chakra signatures, the Atlanteans may have some form of power restraints that can contain their powers.

He stuck to the shadows in the city and used Henge to avoid being found while the rest of his Kage Bunshin moved through the city while also in Henge and when they were done, they disappeared in smoke and began to send the information to him. He now had a good lay of the city and also had a very accurate idea that the Atlantean Navy was packing up for something. That in itself was pretty bad but he placed that aside along with his Sage Mode and headed out.

One thing he did find out though that was of importance was that Aquaman had indeed arrived. Some of the guards had been talking and since they were so focused on said conversation, the Kage Bunshin had no problem in Henge getting close to them and hearing all it needed to hear before moving away on the guise of heading back to arracks and then disappearing.

(So…Aquaman did make it. But the fact that all this is going on is that he was captured and hidden away somewhere.)

(("That must mean our royal pain in the ass is not here…we'll need to secure the others and then go to look for him. And find anyone who are not in on the coup in question."))

(Right…now I guess we're off to the palace.)

…

It did not take a good amount of time for Naruto to reach the palace and he tried to reach for Batman but found out very quickly that he had no luck in connecting to the Dark Knight, no doubt due to the dome and he decided to not take any risks for now and blow his cover. He avoided a number of guards in the outer grounds and soon silently began to move up the walls using his chakra to help him stick to said walls. He spotted some guards nearby and could tell that they were not going to go anywhere, and thus became a problem for him to deal with.

He quickly reached into his pouch and took out a pair of smoke bombs, he had to move fast since he had no idea if the Atlanteans had senses that could allow them to find him even in the smoke. But he was committed and had to do it now since the others had to be rescued before really bad things happened to them. He rushed in and before the guards could raise their weapons, call the reinforcements in either order tossed them to release the smoke. This gave him enough cover to close the gap and land haymaker blows on the guards to knock them out.

He quickly used his Senjutsu enhanced strength to grab one of their staff weapons and turn it into primitive but effective hand cuffs and in he went. So far it seemed that no one had figured out he was here but he was not going to take any chances at all. Moving through the city was not going to be easy since he had no idea just how many guards are around and what kind of tech the people here had.

As he moved deeper in the Palace grounds the Shinobi also did his best to locate anyone who could be able to help him. That might have sounded wrong since he was technically inside enemy territory, but he had enough experience in him to know that not everyone here could be on the side of the traitors to Aquaman. And they could help him find his comrades as well as make sure that they could find the royal hard case and make sure he was not in a bad way.

…

It was not long before his faith in the idea of finding an ally here of all places was vindicated when he spotted a woman carrying a mace. And not just any woman either, but the kind that had the trappings of royalty despite the fact that she seemed to know how to use that mace, meaning a warrior woman in nature was before him. He kept himself hidden for a moment longer and then followed her, he managed to finally restrain the woman but made sure that he was doing so in a manner to make it clear that he was not an enemy, still he made sure to speak to her as well.

"Relax miss, I am not here to hurt you, I'm looking for friends of mine who got captured."

Mera calmed herself and gave a reply.

"Very well, no doubt you are referring to the surface dwellers captured by Orm then. I can help you free them."

Naruto sensed no deception from the woman and he released her, allowing him to see that she was one hell of a beauty to boot. Naruto however squashed that thought since now was not the time for this sort of thing.

"My name is Hokage, with the Justice League, and you are?"

"Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife of the one you know as Aquaman."

Naruto nodded and replied to that.

"Good to meet you your Highness, you know where they are?"

Mera nodded and they moved out as she spoke carefully to make sure her voice was not heard too quickly.

"Yes, I witnessed them being restrained and having power disruptors placed on them by Orm. I heard them saying that there was a traitor here in Atlantis who hired an assassin to kill my husband. Is that true?"

"Every word of it, and gathering from what you just told me…then I can safely assume Orm is the traitor?"

Mera's grip on the mace tightened, and Naruto did not need to look at her face or sense her emotions to know that he had hit the proverbial target right on the bulls-eye.

"Yes, he has not only taken your friends prisoner, but no doubt has done the same to Aquaman when he arrived. I had asked for truth of the rumors that he had returned, only to learn that my son was taken by Orm. And what I heard him say to your comrades made me all the more convinced that he has taken Aquaman hostage. I have…no idea where he is but I know that I need allies to help me find both my son and husband and to stop Orm."

Naruto was quick to see the picture and knowing what he knew of the traitor who now had a name he ventured a bit more.

"Orm's high up in Atlantis nobility then to have done this?"

Mera nodded.

"He is…my husband's half brother."

That did it, this reminded him way too much of his wife' Koyuki's situation for Naruto's liking, the fact that Orm had taken his own nephew, a baby hostage no less only served to anger the blonde. Once that was over he and Mera headed out to the place where the rest of the League were being held prisoner. But not before Mera guided him to a nearby room and there he retrieved his sword that he had lost and had been used by orm to show that he had been 'killed'.

Boy was he going to have a field day busting that guy's bubble.

…

In another part of the ocean…

Aquaman growled mentally to himself as he tried to free himself from the heavy thick chains that held him close to the rock face. He had been taken here by the traitorous followers of his half brother Orm and soon chained there. He wasted none of his energies cursing the traitors, namely Brak who looked at him every now and then, and despite the foul worm's attempts to remain calm, he had no problem seeing the arrogance in his former general's demeanor as it happened.

(I will free myself Orm soon enough, and when I do, I will make your pain and the of Orm's be legendary.)

He looked at the lava flow below him and he knew that the lava was how Orm planned to dispose of him. It was thorough but it would not be enough. The chains would pose a problem, but he did not become king of Atlantis merely through blood connections and also because he married well. He was a warrior and was not the kind to give up without a fight. But any plan he had prepared in his mind was placed aside when the arch traitor came.

He glared at Orm and spoke to him with venom and the desire for retribution thick in his voice.

"You think you are going to succeed in this scheme of your Orm?"

Orm gave a wicked sneer and replied.

"And who dear brother is going to stop me? You? You are weak willed and soft, not the ruler or warrior Atlantis needs. Once I get rid of you then my plans will move along nicely."

"Killing me is not going to bring you any closer to the throne Orm."

"Perhaps, after all the line of succession still stands. But I think I can deal with that easily enough."

Orm soon presented a bundle wrapped in cloth, Aquaman soon recognized the bundle and was enraged even more when he saw it move and out came a cry of a baby.

(My son! Damn you Orm!)

"As you can see, I have decided to end the last obstacle early on."

He then placed the crying child next to his father who struggled against the chains binding him as he saw his son crying deeply at the situation surrounding him. Chilren apparently regardless of being human or not could react to the emotional states of the beings around them. It was obvious that the malicious and cruel intent of Orm coupled with the anger and desperation of his father made the boy cry.

Orm however had no pity in his mind when he moved away, to him the removal of his nephew was all he needed to finally be free of his weak brother, claim the throne he felt was indeed his, claim the woman he also desired, and then bring the surface dwellers to their knees. All of it was proceeding well and now he was going to make his last move to end this plan on a high note.

He turned as soon as he was at a safe distance and fired a beam from the trident, destroying the rock formation keeping the boulder upright, not enough to kill both quickly even if it was practical. No…he wanted the death of his brother and nephew to be slow and agonizing for them both so he made sure to make as much debris as possible be there to make the descent slow. And besides that, as it picked up speed it would handle itself from there.

"Good bye brother, I will make sure to tell our people that despite my best efforts, we were not able to save you and my dear nephew in time."

"DAMN YOU!"

And to throw the final barb at his brother…

"And I will make sure to comfort Mera as she mourns your passing and that of her son. And when it comes I and Mera will name our children after you both. Good bye."

"ORM!"

…

However, back at the palace…

As soon as they moved through the palace, the Shinobi began to sense better the others and he was pleased that they were still holding on. He however knew that he had to make sure that they got to them in time as their life signs were not too good through his Senjutsu enhanced senses as well as the enhanced senses thanks to Kurama. It also did not take long for him to sense a number of signatures matching that coming from Mera which told him that they were soon going to encounter forces, and it was clear that they would be on Orm's side if they were guarding his fellow League members. It did not take long before they saw the guards, at least four of them and Naruto stopped Mera.

"We got some guards there, you ready for this your highness?"

Mera merely nodded, her grip on her mace tightening and her stance going to that of a seasoned fighter, showing to Naruto that she was not a delicate woman. He liked that and the fact she was gorgeous made him smirk at how lucky Aquaman was in having a wife like her. That was placed aside though as he quickly charged at the first guard and before the man could react, he used his speed to close the gap, cut down the weapon in his hand and landed a hell of an uppercut to the jaw. That sent the guy flying backward and allowed Naruto to move in and clash with the other guard coming in with a staff. The weapons clashed and they traded a few blows a bit more before Naruto soon knocked him aside, two more guards came in, but they were not prepared for Mera herself coming at them.

Mera might not be as fast as Naruto but she certainly was no slouch and had used his attack as a way to disguise her presence and then attacked. Needless to say the sight of their own queen coming at them stunned the guards…and she made them pay for it.

Naruto whistled in appreciation after seeing Queen Mera clonk one guard with that mace and quickly with the grace of a dancer smack the next one out like a light with another swing to show her more than expected strength. All of that happened very quickly and he could tell that delicate looks aside, she not only had strength, but one hell of a mean swing as well as exceptional speed and agility. That meant that despite her more than obvious good looks, she was no delicate flower and could easily make anyone trying to underestimate her regret it very quickly. And like any self respecting man he spoke to the Queen.

"That was very impressive your Highness, I can definitely say that your husband is a lucky man."

Mera nodded and spoke to him.

"Thank you, but we should hurry and free your friends from those power drainers."

"Right!"

The two moved to free the rest of the League as the Queen hit the controls and removed the water from the chamber. Once the water was out, he saw the others and was pleased to see that his fellows were unharmed. Once the barrier was down, he quickly channeled his chakra into his kunai and stabbed the devices hard with the blade covered with some of his chakra. Once the device on Superman was removed, the blonde could sense the energy come back to Superman and he saw the man look at him with some surprise.

"H-Hokage?"

"Niece to see you too Superman, don't worry, I am not a figment of your imagination. Hold on!"

He then cut through the restraints and once the Kryptonian was free, he moved to free Diana and Kory, he did have a feeling of relief though that the women were not yet awake since the devices used to restrain their powers happened to be right on top of their…uh busts. He carefully removed the devices and once he did so the two finally woke up and it was Diana who spoke first.

"Hokage…you are alive?"

"Yep and it's nice to see you and the others are safe Diana-hime. Same to you as well Kory-chan, I trust that those idiots did not try to hurt you as well?"

Kory's green eyes lit up with emerald fire and her smile became utterly pronounced as she spoke to Naruto.

"Friend Hokage! You are alive!"

Naruto saw the happiness in Kory's eyes and her voice so he replied with a smile of his own to his house mate, charge, and friend.

"Yep, it's going to take more than what they did to take me down! But enough about that we got to get out of here."

The others nodded as Mera helped Superman stand up to allow him to recover, the move was not a permanent one as the Kryptonian felt his full strength return to him. Once he felt fully restored despite being deep in the ocean, he turned to free Stewart and J'onn alongside Mera who removed Stewart's limiter as he freed the last Martian. The last of the Martians got his powers back and the same could be said for John when he managed to get his Power Ring to flare back to life. Superman then turned to Mera and she spoke to them in answer to the unspoken question on who she was.

"My name is Mera, I am the Queen of Atlantis and wife of the one you know as Aquaman. No doubt you already may have figured out that there has been a coup here in Atlantis and the ringleader is Orm, he had taken my son not only a few hours ago after I heard rumors that Arthur had returned. He is not alone either as I suspect that Brak, one of our senior generals is with him since he has always advocated military force against the surface world despite my husband's desire for the avoidance of military force unless all has failed."

That was the nail in the coffin for the League as J'onn spoke.

"Then it must have been Orm who had hired Deadshot since as royalty he could have access to the kind of wealth to hire the mercenary in question. And if this General Brak is his ally, he no doubt would have countermanded Aquaman's orders to leave the sub alone along with the nuclear material. And no doubt when Aquaman came back here, then they captured him."

Mera was outraged by the news that Brak and Orm had tried to have Aquaman assassinated and if what these surface dwellers said was true, they had kidnapped not only their son but her husband as well.

"Please, you have to help find Arthur and my son! Arthur may have accepted war as an option in the past but he has changed despite what you may think. But Orm and his forces will not be swayed, they plan indeed to go to war with the surface world even if it defies my husband's wishes to avoid war."

The others saw this and nodded but Naruto decided to also put some two cents in, no doubt recalling his time in protecting his wife Koyuki.

"We need to get the Queen to safety first before we locate Aquaman, if Atlantis is like any monarchy, then we need to make sure that she is not used as leverage by this Orm. Plus even with most of their forces gone, I'm willing to guess there's still some people here loyal to Orm, we take them out we have a chance t find those loyal to the true rulers."

Diana and Kory nodded in agreement as they were both of royalty and thus could see the validity of such a move from the blonde Shinobi. They had to secure the Queen of Atlantis and protect her since losing her could be a major blow in their attempt to stop the coup since she still had authority and power as the mother of the heir apparent and wife of the King.

…

As for Aquaman…

Aquaman struggled with all the strength that he could muster into himself, he had to free himself first in order to save his son. The movement of the boulder was now picking up greater amounts of speed and he had no problem in know that time was against him. His son's cries egged him on and soon he screamed out his triumph as one hand was free, but he knew that he could not relax yet. He tried to free his other hand but saw that the chain was thicker here and what he did before would take too long.

He looked down and saw the buckle of his belt that could be removed. Made from the finest alloy of his people's smithcraft skills it was more than strong enough for heavy duty work. It had an edge also, not sharp enough but it would have to do. He removed it and began to hack away at the chain. The blonde Atlantean knew that this was his last chance since the distance between him, his son, and the lava was growing shorter by the second and if he did not make it.

No, he placed such thoughts aside, he would free his son, himself, and then deal with that wretched bastard of a half brother. And then he would make bloody sure that those who sided with him would be made to pay for their betrayal of their king and his desire to help keep the peace.

He continued with all that he had in him, but it became clear that time was running out, and the chain was too strong. Aquaman looked at the lava, his son, his chained hand, and his buckle. He thought of the last option, as brutal and bloody as it was. And made his choice on what course of action he was going to take now.

He raised the buckle high and then sent it down with a cry…not at the chain.

But at his own hand above the wrist…

…

Back in Atlantis…

As they moved through the city, Diana could not help but admire the design of the entire city itself, she had heard stories of Atlantis to be sure growing up back home but seeing the city for one's self was a far more potent experience than what one would be most used to.

"I can see why your husband would do all he could do defend your people your Highness. This city is beautiful."

Mera nodded in thanks and focused herself on helping the others make it to safety to the inner sanctum of the palace. They needed to get to a place that could not be easily accessed and could secure them all while they tried to find her husband and her son. Naruto said nothing but readied his kunai and before the others could ask what he was doing, he fired the weapons, right into the weapons of several guards who quickly took aim at the others. The throwing weapons had no problem jamming themselves into the front of the weapons themselves and they actually made the weapons explode.

The Atlanteans screamed in pain and held their wounded hands as even though they made the move to toss aside their overloaded weapons, they were still in pain when the League launched their attacks. Superman flew in and knocked down a number of them while John quickly formed a shield to protect the queen while Diana and Kory moved ahead with the Tamaranean providing long range firepower that John routinely would open holes in his shield to allow to pass while Diana would be near Mera to protect her from attacks that John's she could not easily reach of if he was too focused on deflecting the incoming firepower from the attacking Atlanteans loyal to Orm. J'onn quickly used his own powers to give him a chance to get up close and attack the Atlanteans as well as give him a chance to scout ahead for more trouble. Superman was more than willing to charge in and attack the Atlanteans by destroying their weapons and knocking them out. He usually held back his full strength and still did though loosened a little of it to hit hard against the Atlanteans since they were a lot more durable than most. And the fact that he coul move about now only added to that as he also used his heat vision to destroy some of their weapons and also take down some of the nearby pillars to act as distractions or to deny the enemy some form of cover.

They seen made their way to the palace and they knew that they had to secure it. Naruto was quick to send out his Kage Bunshin to both scout out the palace a bit more and secure the rooms as well as play the role of distraction. That role simply had his Kage Bunshin take the appearance of the team and Mera. The others were used to seeing his Kage Bunshin by now though Mera obvious was not used to seeing the Kage Bunshin, even more so when they took the appearance of herself and the rest of Naruto's team.

…

Later…

Once they secured Mera in the throne room and managed to find some of the Atlanteans who were loyal to Mera and Aquaman, which thankfully included a surgeon, they focused on looking for the missing king. The flyers in the group, namely Superman, J'onn, and John Stewart

Naruto sensed with his Senjutsu and Kurama's chakra and soon was able to sense the arrival of Aquaman and to his relief, he could sense a signature with them that was that of a child. The fact the child in question had a mix of both Aquaman and Mera's chakra signature confirmed that the son of the two was in good hands.

(Hold up…something ain't right.)

Naruto thought to himself when he noted that there seemed to be some form of injury on Aquaman and as soon as the door opened to reveal Aquaman and the baby. But the very second Naruto's sense of smell picked up an all too familiar smell that only someone without excellent senses would miss, he frowned darkly and spoke to Diana.

"Diana-hime, get that surgeon we managed to rescue…the king is injured."

The others were confused by that until Mera who had gone to greet both her husband and baby in happiness recoiled in shock and horror. They soon saw the cloak covering the man's arm and then heard Mera speak to her husband.

"You're hand…"

Aquaman did not respond to that immediately and merely spoke sternly despite the fact that Naruto could see that his wound was making things difficult.

"Where is Orm?"

…

The others in the League could only look on as the surgeon worked on healing or in this case attaching an artificial limb/weapon on the stump that was the king's arm. Naruto and the others got the full story from the man and he had to give the man credit where credit was due. He willingly sacrificed his hand to have the means to save his son. That was something the blonde had no problem respecting as it reminded him deeply of his parents' sacrifice to save him, both died to save him and he could easily see that same desire in Aquaman. It was also similar to the time that he met the Raikage A who willingly severed his own arm in the middle of the forearm after being hit by the flames of Amaterasu so he can still fight to defend his beliefs, and his village. That made him respect the man even more, but it was fairly obvious that some of the team were none too comfortable with what they learned.

"He took his own hand…I can't believe it…"

Wonder Woman said with shock as they watched the healer tend to Aquaman, John shook his head and replied.

"Told you he was a madman."

Naruto snorted at that and replied sternly.

"It's not madness to risk everything, even sacrificing a limb if it means saving someone you love Lantern. Back home…I knew a mother who willingly gave herself over as a hostage to a band of thugs if it meant that her son would not wind up being beaten within an inch of his life and paraded around like a grisly trophy by a madman. Thank the Kami it never came to that and both were saved in the end. Unless you are in the same spot Aquaman was in or the mother I knew of, don't call anyone willing to sever a limb to save a loved one mad."

John gave a look at Naruto and sighed as he understood that the blonde was right.

"Sorry about that…"

"Nah…let's focus on the here and now, this Orm guy's already got a good head start on all of us so we have to stop him.

Aquaman looked at them and replied.

"As much as it pains me to admit, your blonde companion is right. Orm however is my problem, not yours."

Superman however was not going to let that slide.

"No…he is OUR problem, yours and ours, he may be an Atlantean citizen but he also threatens our world. Like it or not Aquaman, we have to work together to stop whatever it is your brother intends to unleash on us all."

Aquaman looked at Superman and could tell that he meant every word, and the same sentiment was present on the rest of the League. None of them would yield when it came to something like this one. It was here that Batman finally managed to call things in, apparently the interference that cut communications in the city to the surface was a generator system activated by Orm.

"Batman here, can you read me?"

Superman nodded as he tapped the communicator and spoke to the Dark Knight while Aquaman was still working on letting the surgeon attach the weapon on his arm. The sight of that was not the least bit pleasing to the blonde Shinobi but he said nothing as he could see why Aquaman would take that route. It was not only a weapon, but also a grim reminder of his mistake of not making sure that he was watchful for enemies within.

Batman however was on his way elsewhere while talking to Clark.

"I've managed to locate the Atlantean Navy, they appear to have holed up all their main forces in the Arctic and I am already picking up a very increase in thermal energy readings in the oceans. Whatever it is, you can bet that it is not natural."

"How bad?"

"If the temperature increases we are talking about a complete destabilization of the natural ocean currents, increased flooding in coastal areas, and a whole slew of natural disasters. I'm guessing that whatever is doing this is some sort of super weapon based on using extreme temperatures to melt the polar ice caps. And if the Atlanteans are there…then we already know who built it."

That was not missed by everyone in the room and all eyes were in Aquaman. The blonde Atlantean knew that now was not the time for comments that could be misinterpreted. He had to be truthful about all of this and not hesitate this time.

"Orm is using a thermal Generator weapon…I developed it as a contingency plan if it ever came to the point that war was inevitable. I however left it alone after being rescued by Superman after that one named Lex Luthor captured me."

"What?!"

John was not happy by that revelation but was stopped by J'onn, showing that now was not the time to lose focus on the task at hand. Diana on the other hand was calmer in that regard and spoke.

"If that is the case, then he must have been the one to steal the plutonium. He is after all your brother and with him and Brak, there is no way anyone who was not part of this coup would think to question his removal of the material if they ordered it."

Kory agreed as she was quick to see how that was accomplished without Aquaman's knowledge since if what they learned was to be used as a reference, then the removal was done when

Superman was quick on the uptake and soon the others were as well.

"He must have stolen the plutonium to serve as a power source then, we have to stop this…ALL of us."

Aquaman finally nodded as he looked at the harpoon that replaced the hand he had sacrificed to save his son.

"Then let us be off."

…

As they soon reached the Pole region where the doomsday weapon was, it was perfectly clear to the gathering heroes that the Atlantean Navy was in force now. Naruto along with Batman who had joined up in his own fighter were heading there along with those who could fly, which was pretty much everyone, with the marked exception of Aquaman who was in the water swimming to the direction of his forces. It was safe to assume at this point that only those who were with Brak were on Orm's side and the rest were merely following orders on the belief that Aquaman was no longer alive. That was something they had planned to capitalize on, but right now, stopping Orm and his followers was critical.

It did not take long for the rebel Atlanteans who were on Orm and Brak's side to open fire on the incoming heroes, but they were ready for this. The stakes were too high for them to do otherwise.

As soon as they got there, the forces under Brak and Orm did not waste time trying to stop them from trying to get to Orm. Aquaman used his harpoon to attack those with weapons and knock them out his fists, Naruto leaped down from the plan e of Batman and landed on the water's surface and began to use Water Walking to allow him to run on the water and then unleash several Elemental Jutsu, including his Wind Affinity and also using close combat moves to boot. Diana used her rope to unseat any of the soldiers, Kory unleashed green bolts on the weapons of the ships that were on the surface as well as force the Atlanteans to duck and break over while J'onn did the same thing and tossed the soldiers around while Green Lantern and Superman were attacking the heavier subs with the bigger weapons.

The team continued to fight with the Atlantean soldiers with all that they had but Aquaman decided to head off and deal with his brother as Batman arrived and reported that the damage to the North Pole's Ice caps was getting worse. Superman knew that they had to hurry but they could not afford to ignore the Atlantean Navy either.

Superman then decided to make his move as he spoke to the others.

"Wonder Woman, Starfire, J'onn, and I will deal with the Atlantean Navy and keep them from getting into the heat of things. Lantern and Hokage will have to support Aquaman and meet up with Batman, we have to stop Orm quickly before things get even worse in this situation."

"Got it!"

Both of the heroes were accompanying Aquaman and supported him when being attacked, John managed to take out Brak's water bike as the traitorous general led the next counter attack. Aquaman then summoned a killer whale that flew out from the water and scattered the forces of the Atlanteans before him. Green Lantern was impressed and the Spartan had to admit that it was also impressive.

However, they knew that they still had to focus on helping Aquaman as they covered his back, though Lantern decided to meet up with Batman while the blonde Shinobi covered Aquaman from those would try to attack him and Aquaman.

…

As Aquaman entered the cave where the control panel of the generator was he kept a wary eye out for Orm. It was clear to him that Orm would be here since he would want to be there to protect or sabotage the device. He had to reach the control panel and shit this device down and stop this war from going on any further than it already has to save as many lives as he could manage. All he could hope for right now was that Orm did not change the codes needed to shut down the device. Once he powered down the device, he would personally deal with Orm and make him pay for what he had dragged the kingdom into.

It did not take long for him to find his brother and he naturally wanted to make sure that Orm knew just who he was about to fight.

"ORM!"

Orm turned and he glared at his brother while wielding the trident, he spotted the prosthetic and quickly guessed just how his brother had escaped. And despite his hatred of him, he had to give his brother some credit for taking such a risk like that as well as actually going through the whole thing and instead of resting come here with a weapon in place of his hand.

"You cut off your own hand? It seems you are not as cowardly or weak willed as I thought."

"You call me weak willed? I will make you pay for what you have done to the kingdom by dragging them into a war and trying to kill me and my son!"

Orm growled and replied as he leveled the trident at his brother.

"You will regret those words! I have the power now! And once I make sure that you are truly dead, all will be mine!"

Aquaman roared as he swam straight for Orm, intent on either strangling his sibling or skewering him in the gut with his new hand in retribution. But Orm knew that he was still armed with both his hands and the trident and was confident of his chances of success. However Aquaman was not going to make it easy as he fought on against his brother, The two Atlanteans traded blows back and forth until Aquaman managed to knock aside his brother with a kick that sent Orm to the ground, allowing Aquaman to stand up and looked over him.

"This battle is over Orm."

Orm smirked a bit and replied.

"You're right, and you lose!"

He turned, grabbed the trident and fired blast at the control panel and he replied.

"Now nothing can stop the generator! The surface world will finally get it's long overdue fate for all the times they have destroyed and polluted the oceans, the one that you never gave it in your cowardice!"

Aquaman had no time to react as he was hit be another beam of energy from the trident as they were once more fighting with one another. Aquaman's new weapon proved to be useful as this allowed him to block the trident and attack with his right hand and injure Orm. However it was not going to be easy as Orm was able to attack better with both his hands. It was then that Orm was able to hit Aquaman with another blast to send him out of the cave but he was able to his harpoon to stop himself from falling deeper into the cave.

Orm had a smile on his face as he planned to finish off his brother but before he could do anything, he was stopped by Naruto who used a combination of kunai tied with small and less powerful explosive tags and a blast of Wind Chakra that was made in such a fashion to resemble an explosive blast of air fired from an air cannon. The combined attacks were more than enough to force Orm back as the blonde decided to cover for Aquaman to recover.

The former Hokage moved in and unleashed a barrage of shuriken and senbon at Orm as Aquaman began to climb up from where he had been knocked over by Orm's attack. The thrown weapons were all real but were not thrown towards their foe with direct lethal intent as he had to avoid getting Aquaman caught in the crossfire as well as delay Orm so the blonde king could deal with the pain in the ass himself. The weapons soon made their way past Orm's defenses as some of the shuriken and senbon hit Orm on the chest and legs with non-lethal hits but still allowed an amount of blood to be spilled, making the Atlantean scream in shock and pain at the hits as he glared darkly at the one who shot him and leveled the grinning Shinobi.

"You filthy savage!"

Naruto quickly moved out of the way using his reflexes and speed to avoid being hit by the energy of the trident as Kurama soon spoke to him about the energy generated by the weapon.

(("That thing's got some serious juice behind it, that much I can sense. Don't get cocky with this guy Naruto, all he needs is an opening and he'll take it."))

Naruto was more than willing to tangle with Orm after recovering his sword using one of his chakra chains to recover said weapon and then using another chakra chain to block Orm's attempt with the Trident to skewer him. Once he got the sword back he took out his kunai and soon went to work on the foe before him. Orm growled and tried to attack Naruto but the blonde was not going to let this be an easy fight.

He blocked a strike to his head and then blocked a strike with the staff end to his chest at the side with his Kunai before he pushed back with his strength. The man roared at the blonde and attacked with thrusts and slashes with the trident.

"You will NOT stop me from ruling what is mine you dirty savage!"

"You're calling me a savage? Look who's talking traitorous scum."

"YOU DARE CALL ME SCUM!"

Naruto snorted and replied.

"What, are you deaf as well? Yeah I called you scum because that is was you are. You betrayed your brother, the rightful king of the kingdom, you gladly would sacrifice your own nephew the heir to the throne, and you would declare war on the surface only for the chance to be more powerful. You qualify as scum more than once with a resume like that."

That insult sent by the blonde ninja made Orm scream in anger as he began to blast as Naruto who moved, using the ice formations to give him cover from incoming fire. He then moved quickly to smash into Orm again with his sword before he moved the trident aside and smashed a fist into the face of the bastard traitor of Atlantis, that made Orm reel back in pain and anger which only a blind, deaf, and mute person would miss. Naruto dodged another stab at his side and flipped over the man and he roared at the blonde and managed to force Naruto to defensive with him blocking the attack as he spoke in an angry tone laced with arrogance.

"I am nothing like that spineless coward of a brother! I am the rightful king of Atlantis! And I will remove all those who stand against me and in turn the greatness of Atlantis!"

"Please…you're nothing but a power mad warmonger and traitor. You think that you will bring Atlantis to greatness? You will only bring it to ruin and into a war that is pointless to begin with."

"You speak as if you are going to win barbarian! I will see you defeated kneeling before your betters!"

That attempt to rile Naruto only amused the blonde as he replied.

"You make me kneel? Hah! I'd love to see you try."

Orm and Naruto clashed once more and the blonde managed to avid more strikes aimed at him but also kept his senses alert for the return of Aquaman. His goal was not to defeat Orm directly, no he had planned to let Aquaman deal with his traitor of a brother since this was still Aquaman's fight. He soon sensed the return of Aquaman and he smirked a bit mentally and backed away and sheathed his sowrd.

Orm in his anger and arrogance spoke at the blonde.

"You think I will not strike you dead for your words barbarian?! I will strike you down for your insults to the rightful king!"

"Yap, yap, yap! Don't think I'm surrendering, I was merely delaying you, so he can finish this."

Orm had no time to react as Aquaman appeared and landed one nasty left hook right into his face, sending him reeling as Naruto moved back to Lantern and Batman to see if he could help the two of them. As soon as he got there, Batman looked over the ruined control panel and while not as tech savvy as the others when it came to tech like this thermal generator thing which was like a souped up version of the Generator back in the Land of Snow/Spring, Naruto could tell that fixing it the traditional way was a bust.

And the Dark Knight proved that to be right when he spoke.

"The whole system is ruined, no chance of stopping it using the control panel."

"That's a waste, any ideas?"

"Only one, I have to remove the plutonium from the core to shut it down."

John was wide eyed at that and replied.

"You're going inside that thing?!"

"No other option right now, can your ring shield me?"

John looked at his Power Ring and made his decision, there's too much going on for him to bother asking questions. And as crazy as the idea was that batman cooked up, it was not like they had a hundred other options open to them.

"Only one way to find out."

Naruto had to give Batman credit for having balls to suggest that, he read up on nuclear material and how deadly they were, along with other things, and knew that if John's ring could not do the business, then Batman was dead. But that meant that he had to watch over John as he was the source of the shielding, anything happens to him as Batman was in there, the dark Knight was defenseless.

"I'll make sure no one blindsides John, last thing we need is him losing focus on shielding you."

The two nodded and soon got to work as Naruto quickly got himself ready to defend John, but also wondered briefly on what was the state of the battle outside. He then had an idea but then asked Kurama to shield himself and avoid being detected by J'onn. Kurama agreed then soon Naruto spoke out to J'onn.

(J'onn, can you hear me?)

(Yes, what is it Hokage?)

(How is the fight outside?)

(We are holding our own thus far, it appears that Aquaman's arrival has shaken them up and we are using it to our best advantage, what is the status with the Generator and Orm?)

Naruto filed him in on the plan and J'onn replied.

(Risky, but we have little options, what do you need?)

(Can you send in Starfire or Diana here to double the security on the off chance we have company? Orm and Aquaman are already at it, but I doubt that nut did all this on his lonesome.)

(Very well, hold on while I send in some help.)

That came not a moment too soon as several Atlanteans aligned with Orm came in and began to fire at them, forcing Naruto to fight them off but also stay close to John to protect him and in extension Batman. This was not something he liked doing but soon he got a reprieve as a blast of green energy hit some of the attackers as Starfire came in.

"Stay away from my friends!"

The Tamaranean beauty came in quickly and soon joined Naruto who was quite pleased with her arrival. The only one who was not however was Orm himself, as he saw what they were doing and quickly directed his attention to them all.

"STOP!"

That however cost him as Aquaman came at him once more and soon he was forced to turn back to fight his half sibling. This carried on for a while longer until Orm moved to using a dagger after being disarmed of the trident by Aquaman. The traitor was now under the grip of full blown anger and tried to skewer his former king and half sibling with the dagger, all the while shouting out at him.

"You do not deserve to wear the crown or the throne you weak and spineless coward!"

That however was a mistake as Orm's anger clouded his sense of direction as well as potential hazards as he stepped on an uneven section of ice. The ice was also weakened by the very generator that Orm used and lost a good portion of it's durability and it was there and then that the floor broke down and he fell. He was forced to drop the dagger and reach out t the rest of the ice, he only had one arm however that he could use with the distance he had, managing to grab the edge and looked down and saw yawing pit beneath him. In that moment, he knew that he was now in peril as Aquaman stood up and looked at him. He begged to be saved at this point as he tried to reach out for his brother as his strength was beginning to fade due to his battle with his brother.

"Brother! Help me!"

Aquaman looked at him and his wound from before, he reached out his hand, but not to get his brother as Orm looked on in shock, he took the trident and spoke.

"I believe that this is mine."

Orm cried out as he fell down into the dark pit as Aquaman looked on and headed off to see if the generator was taken out.

…

Batman, Green Lantern, Kory, and Naruto were finally able to get the generator down as the Dark Knight was able to stop it and begin the cool-down of the Generator. Green Lantern was able to speak at this as the generator was powering down.

"It's shutting down, you did it!"

Batman shook his head as he got out and landing on the floor and Lantern retracted his energy.

"No, we did it."

Aquaman arrived and while he remained calm he was happy as well.

"Then the threat is over."

…

Kurama however was quick to point out something.

(("You might want to reconsider that statement blondie, turn around Naruto…guess who's back?"))

"NO!"

The group turned to see Orm enraged and no doubt armed with something…and sure enough, he was indeed armed. It appeared to a sphere with triggering devices, and none of them had to take a wild guess about the thing being a grenade. Orm looked at Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batman, Starfire, and Naruto with absolute madness and rage in him as he shouted.

"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE ALIVE!"

Naruto however had enough as he quickly summoned his chakra and then used his Jutsu to control the still freezing cold water around him and the others.

"The same can be said for you!"

"SUITON! KYOJIN NAMI!"

A massive wave of pure cold arctic water smashed hard into Orm and he was not the least bit done as he spoke to John.

"Lantern! Surround the sphere with your ring energy now!"

John did not hesitate and soon a sphere of green energy surrounded the mass of cold water that restrained Orm and Naruto soon tapped into Kurama's chakra and then launched more of the water around the sphere and after the water began to harden in the cold icy wind, he then used his Wind chakra.

"FUUTON! HATESHINAI SENPUU!"

The summoned wind was thick and dense which helped with the freezing of the water to create a massive ice prison sphere to hold Orm. Once he was sure that the ice was thick and strong, he signaled for John to remove the barrier. The end result of that and the fact that the sphere was now dumped into the open was the freezing of the water to form a spherical prison of ice. The mad Atlantean managed to retain some common sense and deactivated his weapon, now aware that the detonation would have killed him in this new prison. But that hardly meant that he was not going to make his anger known to the ones who held him prisoner.

The madman railed at them and pounded on the ice as Naruto sighed.

"The guy's shouting was a pain in the ears, how did you ever tolerate this guy?"

Aquaman knew all too well the question was directed to him so he did not hesitate to answer.

"Sometimes even I wish I can have that answered. But now I must deal with Orm before he escapes somehow. I will not let him get the chance to be plague to the people he willingly betrayed."

Naruto nodded and it seemed that both Batman and Lantern were willing to let this be settled between Orm and Aquaman. As the man moved with his trident in hand, he looked squarely at Orm who was still trapped in the ice prison made by Naruto and John. Orm's face was full of hatred and anger but Aquaman ignored it and spoke even if his brother would not hear him.

"You betrayed us all for power and you were willing to lead our people into a war Orm. You willingly would kill the heir to the throne, my son and your own nephew, and no doubt take Mera as your own. For those crimes I should have you executed once and for all, but for today, you will remain in this prison for as long as it remains as such. But make no mistake of this Orm, escape and continue to harm the people you betrayed, and even those of the surface world, then I will stop you personally."

Orm's face contorted with rage and he shouted what one could easily understand as expletives and insults to Aquaman. This was more than enough to prove that even with the amount of ice and water that he was in, the traitorous Atlantean still was able to hear him. Aquaman ignored that and soon allowed more blocks of ice to move and surround the sphere of ice, increasing the thickness of the ice prison and soon burying the place deep in the ice. Once that was done, he looked at Naruto, Batman, and Green Lantern and gave a nod to show that he was done.

They soon left as Aquaman had now begun to work on gathering together the remains of the Atlantean Navy and finding those who were truly part of the plot and those who were duped into believing the lies Orm and his lackeys had been sending out.

…

In Atlantis…

Naruto could not help but feel like vomiting in disgust at how Brak was pleading for his life and his freedom, the same sentiment was apparent on the face of Aquaman, Mera, Green Lantern and Batman. He recalled a few times when he had to deal with sniveling cretins like Brak who after realizing he was on the losing side after betraying the rightful leaders, would try to pretend and act like they were truly not aware of it all. But naturally this was balanced off by the fact that he had fought with villains who were more than willing to go all the way even when defea was staring at them in the face.

At least they had the backbone to see things through, unlike this sniveling excuse for a general.

If given half the chance he would have buried Brak alongside Orm in that massive frozen prison of ice. But that would be Aquaman's call, not his since as King, it was up to him how he would deal with the rebellious coward who did not even have the balls to stand up for himself.

Aquaman apparently had enough as well and made it perfectly obvious to the general and his followers who were now being watched intently by those who had proven their loyalty to the rightful ruler of Atlantis.

"Enough! You have shown where your true allegiance lies to me before Brak, and do not think you can convince me otherwise! By all rights I should have you executed for this! But no…you will serve as a warning to all who side with tyrants! Take him to the deepest and darkest prison we have and make sure he remains there for the rest of his natural life!"

"Yes your highness!"

Brak's attempts were soon at an end as the rest of the League who could be there were also looking on. Diana and Kory showed disgust at Brak while John was deep in thought about everything that happened ever since they encountered Aquaman and also his own actions in the mission. Superman along with J'onn looked as the man was escorted while Batman was not too pleased about what he learned ever since this mission went down.

Aquaman sighed as he began to think about all that had happened and began to speak once more.

"I have made many mistakes this day, I have been so blinded in the belief that my people's enemies were on the surface, that I did not think that the greatest danger to my family, my people, and my home would be right underneath my nose."

Naruto could not help but agree with that, Danzo rang a bell in his brain in that regard since that bastard gave more trouble than good solutions. But for now he said nothing as it was not long before John himself was the one to speak, and in hindsight, it was a good thing since the two of them needed to be the ones to patch things up between the two of them so there would be no more issues. Both of them were passionate protectors in their own right but Naruto had no doubt that this event taught both of them to always look things on both sides of the fence.

But for now he had to think about what he would do once he was back in Los Angeles, and already after this adventure, he had some new ideas for a new book.

…

Back in L.A three weeks later…

Carol whistled as she looked at the newest book written by Naruto who had just gotten back at least a week after the mission and had burned the midnight oil to make this new book. SO far it highlighted a new story that dealt with an underwater adventure with drop dead gorgeous women and more. She looked at Sage/Naruto Uzumaki and after a few minutes decided to speak to him seriously.

"This wouldn't happen to be related to that little incident with that Aquaman fellow and the Justice League by any chance?"

Naruto grinned and replied.

"Yeah, you could say that, anyway, I take it that the story's okay Boss?"

Carol smirked and replied.

"Yep, knowing your penchant for good imagination it will do all right. At any rate, usual fee for the book and also for at least three more sequels, sound fair?"

"All right with me, anyway, any luck with your friend Miss Lane?"

Carol sighed a bit and replied.

"Not at the moment so we should wait until she is available, though considering she happens to be sweet on Superman I think that might take a while to happen. In the mean time, I'll get this new story of yours into circulation, a test first to see how people accept it, and then we'll make it from there. Got a feeling though that after that mess in the World Assembly with that Aquaman character some time ago, there will be some people who might not be too happy with reading about this right away. So we'll make sure to plan the release once things calm down, at any rate, anything else to add to this one?"

Naruto shook his head at that.

"Not right now, though it's mostly a draft idea, at any rate, I should get the rest of it ready for the first unveiling."

"Be sure that you do Sage, you've gone and done a lot of food work so far and I'd hate to have to let you go even if you only do part time work for my company, at any rate…I think it's best that you can take some early time off, business has picked up but not enough for you to be here in the office for a while."

"Right there Boss, anyway I will be moving on."

"Sure thing…oh yeah, don't forget to come in the office later before the end of the week for you check. Plus I think it's time we do some catching up since it's been a while."

The seductive smirk on Carol's undeniably attractive face made Naruto smile and he replied to that.

"Sure thing, I will not miss it for the world."

…

Later…

Naruto was once more out on patrol in L.A and moving through the buildings while keeping an eye out for anything that was way off the normal charts. Kurama was likewise keeping an eye on things to support his long time partner. From anyone trying to tag him and so far nothing dangerous was detected by the war hardened Bijuu. And while the blonde had managed to have a nice meal to ease any hunger pangs he had with him

(("Looks like it's going to be another slow day…Kami I was hoping for some more action on dry land for a change after that little stint in the oceans."))

(You sound disappointed.)

(("Of course I am disappointed, there's nothing here to make me feel stimulated…apart from a few scrapes and the like we don't have a lot to do. Anyways, how come your red haired babe from outer space friend is not with us?"))

(Kory-chan's gone off to be on the Watch Tower with Diana and J'onn for now, figured getting the chance to see space would do her some good. And before you ask, Raven-chan is currently reading more of her favorite books and I made sure to leave her some very nice food and drink if she needs them.)

(("Right…well let's hope we get some action around here. Dealing with the regular thugs, even the boosted ones with drugs are not as entertaining. Hold up…I'm picking up something weird coming in."))

Naruto stopped from his leap and quickly launched a chakra chain to secure himself to climb up to the roof of the building. Once he got there, he began to focus all of his senses on what was going on.

(What do you sense Kurama?)

(("Hmmm…human all right, but mixed with…animal? Feline from the feel of it too and definitely no the kind we're familiar with. Better head over there Naruto, if I recall enough, that's where some of the banks are."))

Naruto wasted no time and headed there as fast as he could, he did not take long to get there when he saw a dozen injured officers nearby, alive but certainly going to be feeling some serious pain in the morning afterwards and some of them sporting…

"Claw wounds?"

(("That explains the feline energy signature I picked up. If I didn't know any better I'd say we're fighting someone with animal traits in them. Obviously not natural and quite possibly some sort of Bio-weapons experiment or some poor shmuck who got in way over something. This remind you of that time that Mizuki nut came back to make your life miserable?"))

(Ugh…you just had to bring that one up huh?)

Naruto growled recalling the time he had to fight none other than Mizuki who had escaped prison and had ingested an old formula developed Orochimaru as a way to hybridize human and animal DNA together to create living weapons with unique abilities. Naturally while it gave Mizuki a serious edge, it eventually destroyed him, proof that not only was the formula utterly unstable but Orochimaru did not give a damn about life that much unless he got something out of it and knowing that bastard, he got enough from Mizuki and left him to rot.

He never liked Mizuki one bit and was actually pleased he may have lived but never became a ninja while he was alive.

Placing that out of his mind he moved into a bank that apparently was the target of whoever was the hybrid. He had a feeling that this new guy was another one like Mizuki…a muscle bound oaf with no brains and uglier than sin.

…

Unfortunately for Naruto…his thoughts on the matter proved to be dead wrong the very second he faced the figure who came out from the vault with a huge bag of money. The figure was that of a woman, all the right curves and swells in all the right places and had the muscle tone to show an athletic build that could easily make heads turn. Not to mention the fact that she had a rather interesting bust to boot.

The fact that she was only covered in fur meant that she was technically buck naked.

And despite the fact that not only did have not only cat like features but a tail as well, she certainly was eye catching, in an utterly primal exotic catgirl kind of look.

(Okay…definitely a heck of a lot better looking than that bastard Mizuki ever was. Who the heck is she?)

Naruto indeed had no idea who she was and was right now trying to figure out just what was his next course of action involving the now obvious thief before him. Sure he could get the whole cat Burglar bit from Selina, this new arrival before him on the other hand was taking that term to a level that was definitely new to him. It was fairly obvious to him though from the injured Police officers and bank employees around, that she was more than able to hold her own.

He finally spoke to the literal catgirl before him.

"Okay…this is definitely new to me lady, who are you?"

The catgirl merely cocked an eyebrow and spoke in an accent that definitely screamed intelligence and drive to Naruto, and the slight purr that came with being half feline only added to the whole mix.

"Now that's a first, usually most guys I know try to aim guns at me and call me freak or monster."

Naruto could sense the truth there along with some measure of hostility so he could tell that this was not something that was going to be on a hair trigger. So he tried the diplomatic route first before trying something a bit more on the side of physical aggressive force.

"Well obviously I'm not one of the usual guys you deal with Miss…?"

"Cheetah will do."

(Cheetah? Wait, that speed demon of a predatory cat in that continent called…)

(("Africa you dolt."))

(Right, and don't call me a dolt…though I certainly never heard of her before.)

(("Maybe you haven't but I'm wagering a guess some of the long time heroes here on this world might have. Better given them a call first though I doubt our new guest is going to let us let her go that easily."))

(Right…)

"Okay, now I know who you are, can I take a guess you know who I am?"

Cheetah nodded as she placed down the bag and spoke.

"Yeah, you're the Hokage everyone here in L.A talks about. But regardless you are not going to stop me from doing this. Even if you are indeed with the League there's no way I will give up without a fight…so come on!"

Naruto quickly used his kunai to defend himself when Cheetah came at him with claws coming out from her fingertips and clashed with the steel, forcing him to move back. The blonde ninja knew there and then that this was not going to be an easy thing to deal with. He dodged another attempt to slash into him by the hybrid female and managed to move in and land a kick to her stomach to get some distance between them.

Cheetah coughed out some air from the blow along with a cry of pain but she was not backing down either. as she came at Naruto with a roar and slashed at him constantly. It was obvious to the battle hardened Shinobi that she lacked combat training and was relying on a more animalistic fighting style to take him on. That did not mean she was not capable since like Mizuki, her hybrid form was obviously giving her some physical advantages. Higher level strength being one of them, better speed, and higher resistance to impact though not by much

The two moved to the wall and Naruto quickly ducked and heard a loud scratching noise above him to see three claw slashes on the nearby wall from Cheetah's attack. The blonde quickly landed a powerful shoulder charge into Cheetah before she could go after him again. The blonde finally took to the offensive and launched a number of fierce attacks on Cheetah, forcing her to move back and more than once the attacks had come close to her. The blonde soon used Taijutsu and soon the two of them were locked in a battle of wills.

…

Cheetah or rather, Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva could not help but realize that taking on the Hokage was not exactly the best idea since he had already more experience and skill that most people she fought with. The former scientist and reluctant criminal had come to Los Angeles to steal more money in order to find a cure for her current state. She knew that she would be in the Hokage's territory but had hoped that she had time on her side since Los Angeles was a large city.

Now as she began to push back against the Ninja, she knew that she could not afford to keep fighting with the blonde. The transformed woman heard a good deal of the blonde Shinobi and while she was no slouch as a fighter, she had made sure to avoid combat since she was not much of a fighter to begin with and lacked actual combat experience. She had to leave the situation before her and escape even if losing the money she needed was the price tag.

Naruto could tell that she was not liking the possible outcome of fighting him like this and he decided to try and find out more of this literal catgirl before him.

"You know…physical abilities aside, you don't exactly strike me as a serious fighter. Which means either you don't have field experience or you were not a fighter until recently."

"Point being?"

"Point being that it is confusing me on why you want to pick a fight. This is not going to end well for you so I suggest you give this up."

Cheetah bared her teeth at that and replied.

"Never! You could never understand me!"

The two finally broke away and Cheetah was not wasting time as she quickly grabbed a nearby desk and turned it into an impromptu club to bash Naruto's head in. Naruto quickly drew his sword and channeled his chakra into the sword to cut the desk in half and then used it to cut another weapon taken by the humanoid feline, this time a long lamp to make into a staff. However the metal while hard and strong was not meant to take on metal enhanced by chakra and soon the weapon was cut. This however did not deter Cheetah as she lunged at Naruto.

Normally Naruto would have used his sword to kill a foe like this if the situation became desperate, and in a sense this one was a desperate situation. But his senses, namely the kind that he got from Kurama were alerted by something. That something was coming from the woman before him...her emotions.

Despair…

Desperation…

Self Loathing…

Guilt…

Hope…

All of this was in the woman, and seemed to be the driving force to make her go for money and the fact that she was willing to fight him like this even when it was clear that he was in a sense a better fighter since he was battle hardened and she, while certainly no slouch had not fought to kill for some reason or another. This only served to make him all the more determined to find out just who she was. But before it could come to that, the sounds of sirens came and the catgirl, showed an expression of dismay, no doubt realizing that while she could tangle with the cops, fighting both them and the Hokage was not going to end well at all for her. She glared at him and left, Naruto however did not let her leave without him trying to find out more about this person before him. He left a pair of Kage Bunshin to tend to the wounded while he went after the catgirl.

Her unique chakra signature did take him some getting used to while tracking her was a bit harder, still once he got to the roof of the buildings and began to move around his way, it did not take long for him to spot her. He moved quickly tossed a Hirashin kunai at the ground before her. The weapon forced her to stop and turn around, seeing nothing, Cheetah turned to continued running, thinking that Naruto missed.

Only for him to be right in front of her, the kunai in question in his hand and pointed at her. She was shocked by that and managed to ready herself for a fight though it was obvious that Naruto's sudden appearance before her before she even knew he was there was rather unnerving to her. However Naruto decided not to attack her directly, instead he lowered his kunai and spoke.

"Why are you here?"

"What?"

"You obviously need money yet I don't sense any greed in you…more like desperation for something."

Cheetah did not say anything but the way he spoke made her worry on what he was getting at.

"That is none of your business!"

"It is when you come here and harm innocent people, now tell me why you are here."

Cheetah was not pleased at all by this and she had no doubt that if she stayed any longer, the company she had once been part of would be after her again. She was not going to let herself be captured by those bastards…never. There was no way she would ever work for and with them again, not after they turned on her.

She however placed all thoughts of that aside for the moment and focused on finding some manner of escape route from the blonde shinobi and wondered if seduction could work. The idea was absurd considering her looks but she knew that if he was able to get to her like this, escape by evasion would be extremely difficult, fighting was obviously out of the question and his meta-human powers were nothing to sneeze at either.

But before she could attempt it, Naruto replied.

"You know…forgive me for saying this but you really are different from the one I had to deal with who had the same condition you had."

THAT stopped any thought Cheetah had as she digested just what Naruto had just told her. But before she could say anything else, Naruto spoke once more.

"I am going to let you go Cheetah, don't make me regret that decision. Get out of here now."

The female villain looked at him with confusion on her face but she was not going to let this chance escape her and she decided to turn and leave. But then he spoke once more.

"I want to know what happened to you before anything else, so let's hope that our next meeting ends on a better note."

She turned to speak, only see Naruto disappear and before she could find him, she had to change her mind since the cops were getting closer. As she did so, she was unaware that Naruto was nearby using his Henge to take the look of a simple ventilation shaft and when she was clear, he broke the Henge and then decided to go to the Watch Tower and see if any of the guys could tell him just who was it that he had just run into.

Unfortunately…she was not going to be the only one who was soon going to be someone that Naruto was going to be meeting again soon.

…

In a hidden warehouse…

"She is here…are you certain?"

"Yes my Lord…the child is here…in this wretched city."

"Have you found an exact location?"

"No my Lord…the city is rife with energy that interferes were her magical scent. It interferes with our tracing."

"Nonsense! That crystal should find her scent easily! How can this city be blocking it?"

"We…believe that it may have to do with the…energy we sensed here before…on numerous occasions. We believe that it may be the reason our ability to track our prey has been hampered."

"How powerful is this energy?"

"We…cannot ascertain that my Lord, but the amounts we have sensed are…immense, highly focused and strong. There is a demonic feel about it…yet…"

"Yet?"

"Yet…pure, clean of the things that one associates with evil…almost like a God."

"Impossible…such a thing cannot be possible."

"I…wish I can say that you are correct my lord but what we have sensed is indeed such a thing."

"…seek it out then."

"My Lord?"

"Seek this power out along with the child…we shall find a way to return this power into is true form of darkness. And with it and the child…then our power cannot be matched!"

The figures nodded and soon left, and back in a hidden fortress somewhere in the world…the one they spoke to hidden in the shadows spoke to himself.

"So…we have yet another power here. Dear Raven…run and hide all you like but you cannot escape your fate. Your father will rise again and you…shall be mine to do with once it is all over. And for you…whatever you are…your power shall benefit the Church of Blood."

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Well, this is the latest of the arc dealing with Aquaman and the Atlanteans and the end as well. Now it's back to the usual grind for Naruto.

Or at least it was until he now found himself dealing with Cheetah, as she tries to rob a bank in his backyard. But you can bet that this first meeting between Naruto and Barbara is going to have some very interesting repercussions in the near future. Namely in the coming arc that deals with Luthor and his personally crafted funny bunch.

And if you read the last part…I can wager a guess any full blown DC fan would know just who is after Raven here. You can bet that Naruto and Raven are going to be in for a long day in the coming battles with the bunch before them. That however will be for later since I plan to have Naruto meet in the next chapter his own brand of villains, and some of them can be a major pain in his nuts.

Any OC villain and female villain ideas that can be appealing are welcome.

…

Also a suggestion by Ryan Spradling about me giving Naruto's civilian boss Carol the Blue Beetle to make her have powers. Not too sure how that can play out to be honest, but I'll think about it. Another one from him was to have Supergirl enroll in UCLA, well it's workable since despite the farmer's daughter look, she's way smarter than she looks so yeah, I can work with that.

Though you bet that all of this is going to make things REALLY interesting for Naruto as well as everyone else there in Los Angeles if Supergirl herself takes up being the resident cape alongside the others already there.

If there are errors please point them out and I will fix them…I have been busy as hell lately and I might have fouled up somewhere.

Anyhow…on with the rest!


	13. Chapter 14

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I have no connections to DC or Jump so drop the idea of sending the lawyers after me okay?

Chapter 8

Day off…

( ): Thoughts/Conversation with Kurama

((" ")): Kurama's voice

…

The Justice League were currently working on dealing with a few new criminals who had decided to pop out of the proverbial woodwork though there were thankfully not that many as of this time. That usually meant that some of the team members were going to get some time to unwind and relax a bit. One thing they began to agree on after the mess with the Manhunters and the recent mess with the Atlanteans, was that the need to rest was needed since burning themselves out was not that good an option.

Only marked exception among them in that train of thought was Batman himself but he did not stop them if they needed to unwind. As of right now, Superman was pleased to finally get a chance to go out on a simple trip back home to meet his parents, adopted anyway, and relax alongside his cousin Kara. John had gone back to make the most of his time in his old home town, Flash was back iun his city to make sure to keep it safe and also be with his folks.

Shaeyra was one of the few who stayed on the Watch Tower to relax in her own way while J'onn was on monitor duty. That however would have made one wonder what was going on with several other members of the League, namely a certain blonde shinobi, an Amazon princess, and of course a Tamaranean.

If one went into the Watch Tower, one would get the answer fairly quick…

…

In the Watch Tower's training gym…

The gym basically was like any gym found anywhere on Earth's cities and towns, as well as the private kind. But in this case, the gym equipment here was all custom made and for a very good reason. When Bruce Wayne/Batman had the watch Tower made, it was made clear that astronauts would need a place to train and hone their bodies and keep themselves physically fit for active duty. After the Imperium Invasion and the speech of the General, and prior to introducing the Watch Tower to the others, he had secretly made custom built gym equipment and other times brought in, with the last bits in the Watch Tower when he brought Clark and the others there. He believed that even with the presence of some of the League members having superhuman strength, Superman, Wonder Woman, J'onn, and Kory among them, they still needed to keep themselves strong and ready for combat. Naruto personally liked the idea and recalled how as a kid of twelve to thirteen he had trained himself in water walking one time by carrying at least three to four fully grown adult men on his back.

When asked by Batman how he managed that since adult men would weigh a lot more than a twelve or thirteen year old kid in that age, he decided to rip off…just for the fun of it.

"That's…a secret."

Complete with hand gestures, smirk, and wink.

Needless to say Batman glared, Superman gave a slight smile, John shook his head, J'onn merely observed, Hawkgirl was curious about that, Diana raised an eyebrow, Kory was smiling…

And Flash?

Laughing his ass off even if Batman was giving him the 'glare', as for Naruto he was wearing his trademark fox grin the whole time. Whoever cooked up that line for that character was a genius!

He just KNEW Batman was going to get him for that, but at the moment he did not mind in the slightest. He was actually looking forward to the idea of setting up a prank war with Batman. After all…

The Prankster from Konoha had to keep in step right? His mother Kushina LOVED pranks so who was he to NOT take up the mantle?

Speaking of Kory, she was currently doing something that was considered a part of her people's culture as an empathic but warrior borne race. Sparring, and who was the said partner for said sparring for the orange skinned, literally fiery haired, and green eyed beauty?

Who else?

…

"HAA!"

Naruto dodged the incoming strike from Kory as they were currently sparring with one another in one of the gyms in the Watch Tower. The two had been there to get some exercise until the blonde asked the Tamaranean for a spar to see how her combat skills were coming along. She was more than willing to oblige though he made sure to see her HAND to HAND combat skills and not her energy powers or flight…there was plenty of time for that sort of thing later.

And so far he was not disappointed yet as her speed and power were not to be laughed at and while she was holding back like he was, she was no slouch when it came to hitting hard. She apparently was well schooled in the combat arts as he was currently on the defensive, not something he usually took part in. he moved to block another punch from her which was followed by a kick to his side, but he quickly dodged the kick and fired one of his own, hitting Kory and forcing her backwards.

The Tamaranean smiled a bit and quickly engaged the blonde ninja once more while Naruto smirked at her in reply as he began to block her attacks. After dodging several precise kicks and punches from the woman, Naruto moved on the offensive. He leaped over Kory and then spun in mid flight to land a powerful kick to her side, Kory managed to block the attack, only for Naruto to use his other leg to hit her from the side and as soon as he landed on the ground on his hands, he used his hands to spring board himself forward and land a drop kick of his own into Kory's chest.

"OOF!"

Kory backed back from the blow but recovered enough to block some of Naruto's punches as he came at her, not relenting in his assault and soon he hit her with a shoulder charge to get some room. Kory grunted at that but was not disappointed or angry as she admired her friend's persistence and determination in this fight even if it was a spar between the two of them. She managed to avoid his next blow and land a haymaker of a punch on him, though that said punch was very low powered.

Naruto grunted from the blow and felt his ribs cry in pain but he did not let that stop him either as he quickly grabbed Kory's extended arm and caught her in a throw and as she was sent down to land on the mat, he quickly released her and got some distance between the two of them. Hat move turned out to be the right move on his part as she got up with a flip and then charged with a knee strike aimed at his chest, which he blocked, before using her extended leg as a spring board to flip over her, twist in mid flip and then spinning his body to fire out a kick to her head.

A kick that she was able to block and catch the leg and begin to spin the blonde around in a circle.. Already the move was really having an effect on the blonde, but he was not going to be idle as he quickly moved forward and attacked even if in such a bad situation. This was naturally part of the training back in the Academy, as long as you had your other limbs and the will, strength, and stamina, you are not out of the fight yet. He moved quickly and managed to force Kory to release him as he aimed a punch and elbow strike with his left hand for the fist and the right elbow for the strike. This forced Kory to release his leg which was an opening that Naruto wasted no time to use as he landed a kick with his other leg to hit Kory and that gave Naruto a chance to get to his feet as Kory did the same. The two looked at one another for a bit longer, tense and ready for a fight…

Until they smiled at one another, they had agreed to have the spar last for five minutes, and now that they had reached the limit, it was time to stop. Not that neither of them were disappointed for not winning the spar between them.

As they relaxed, they soon heard clapping nearby and turned to see none other than Diana herself.

"That was impressive Hokage, Starfire."

Diana's praise was not false in any stretch of the imagination as she had arrived much earlier and had decided to observe the two spar with one another. She had noted that Naruto's style was flexible, unpredictable, but highly effective and also precise when he attacked Kory in the spar, the fight lasted for a bit and there was no doubt in her warrior's eye that Naruto was no slouch in fighting powerful foes.

Both Kory and Naruto smiled and the blonde showed the traditional sign of respect between ninja students, and since Kory had been told by the blonde what the gesture meant, she did likewise and when it was over she spoke to him.

"That was a really good spar Friend Hokage!"

"Thanks, you were no slouch yourself Kory-chan, I take it this kind of thing is common for you?"

Kory smiled and nodded.

"Yes! I was trained well back home, it's common on Tamaran for us to learn how to fight to defend ourselves."

Kory's smile did not hide any sadness, not because she had forgotten her homeworld, but because she knew that as long as she was not seen and caught by the Citadel, her people would not be attacked and harmed, thus as long as they were all right, then she would be all right. And the fact that she had found good friends here on Earth made the separation much easier to bear, along with being close to friend Naruto, the very first person she had become close to ever since her escape.

Naruto smiled at that and knew that at least Kory's spirits were good and he had no plans to let anything take away her smile and her spark. Even though it was a constant struggle for him not to do anything towards Kory even though it was obvious that Kory was not against doing anything with him right now.

"Good to know, and I have to admit that if you were able to come to my own world before, you would have become quite famous as a Kunoichi Kory-chan."

Kory smiled warmly at the praise coming from her first friend on Earth itself and Diana could see that Naruto himself was a good friend to Kory. The young princess, had taken to being part of the League well enough and despite her being…naïve in the culture on Earth had proven that her heart was in the right place and in hindsight reminded the Amazon of herself on occasion and also reminded her of Donna her very own sister.

"I also would agree Kory, you have amazing combat skill and with more time and experience, you can truly make a difference alongside your powers."

Kory nodded and Naruto smiled at the fact that Diana and Kory got along rather well. He however had to admit seeing both beautiful women in their respective uniforms and chatting like that gave some very interesting images to him. He managed to place those thoughts aside since the last thing he wanted was for any of them to catch him having less than impure thoughts even if he was a shameless pervert on occasion. The reason was that while he had a feeling that Kory did not mind and in fact would revel in that due to her culture, nature, and habits, Diana , despite being on good terms with him would murder his ass if she found out just where his thoughts were going.

Diana soon faced him and smiled her approval of his performance.

"And you are very well skilled Hokage, the style you used was highly flexible and unpredictable. Plus you seem to find ways to attack Kory in the most unexpected and acrobatic ways.

Naruto smiled and accepted the praise, coming from Diana who was the princess of a nation of nigh immortal warrior women who had more time than he did to learn how to fight, that was a lot.

"Yeah, well, I always try to keep myself in top form even if I happen to be a lot older than most guys my physical age might suggest. At any rate, it's kind of nice to be able to spar with someone who can give me a challenge."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…not that I want it or anything, but the vast majority of the criminals I have to deal with in L.A, guns and weapons aside don't strike me as being that big a threat. I mean take away the guns and have them land in my world, they'd be in for a world of hurt. The criminal ninja back home were a lot more dangerous than them and I honestly wish I took the chance to spar with Superman."

Diana smirked a bit at that and spoke again.

"You would spar with Superman?"

"Yeah I would, he's not as refined in the martial arts but that can be remedied with some extra training time. I missed him though…but Kory-chan really made me work for it there so I am happy to bleed out the boredom, plus I am going to teach her some of the Taijutsu skills I picked up. Not really my chosen skill set and all that, but I am good at it."

"I can see that…so why don't I propose a match?"

"Oh, who am I to spar with?"

…

(He just had to ask huh?)

…

Later…

(Me and my big mouth…)

(("No kidding…but then again, they don't seem to mind."))

The reason for Naruto to have that said thought run through his brain, along with the sarcastic comment from Kurama? He was now being tag teamed by BOTH Diana and Kory as the Amazon and the Tamaranean decided to test Naruto's combat skills against two powerful female fighters, with the condition that if he could hit either of them hard enough to cause an injury, then the match was over with him as the victor, and if he got injured by either of them hard enough to stop his offensive but not seriously harm him, then they would be the winners.

And right now they were really giving him a run for his money as both were not going to let him get away that easily. It was hardly with any malice though since they were pretty much eager to test themselves against Naruto who had proven thus far to be someone who could be a test for them both.

So right now, the blonde former Hokage was being attacked by the two women who were really cutting loose in the fight, but not enough to send him to hospital, thankfully. He dodged a powerful punch and elbow strike combination from Diana and then blocked a powerful side kick from Kory who followed up with a knee strike of her own, forcing him to counter with his own leg to block the attack and move it aside.

He had little time to relax as he flipped backwards and managed to land on his feet and then roll to the side when Diana came in with a powerful bone crushing heel kick. The metal where he been standing on before was now crushed. Diana grunted a bit in missing her target, but that hardly meant she was done as she quickly turned to him and fired a two punch combination which he blocked and she soon followed that with a spinning kick that forced him to duck and then block another kick from Kory who was now throwing punches at him and followed by what appeared to be a drop kick from one of those wrestling shows he and Kory had seen by accident. He managed to counter the blows and move back and then thought to himself.

(Not exactly what I had in mind but this is really getting rid of the boredom.)

The two women were soon ready to engage him again and he was also more than ready for the coming attacks, though he had to admit that whoever was bankrolling the Watch Tower was going to have a hissy fit if the damage to the gym was any indication. One thing was for sure, sparring with Koriand'r and Diana at the same time was pretty darn exhilarating.

The implications of his own statement plus the images it sent into him quickly made him wish that he had not thought it up. Thank the Kami neither of them were telepathic otherwise they would have been able to pick up on the thoughts in his head. And usually would have been one hell of a mess on his part since he would have to convince the two that he had no ungentlemanly ideas towards them.

Kurama on the other hand was more than willing to take advantage of the situation he was in for the sake of humor. And how was he going to take advantage of the whole thing one might ask, simply put he began to send images into Naruto's mind which showed him fighting the Amazon and Tamaranean, only this time…

They were very much bare of any clothing…the very same images that had briefly been in his partner's head

(("Ooh…kinky, being tag teamed by two gorgeous women who can knock your block off literally in the nude. Heh, you're a real piece of work Naruto."))

(No thanks to you, furball! Knock it off, I do NOT need those images in my head right now!)

(("Sorry, having ay too much fun…oh, duck!"))

Naruto did just that to avoid a hell of a kick directed at his head by Diana and while he did evade the blow, the way he moved back and the fact that Diana was still kicking at him, he got an interesting look at the raven haired and blue eyed beauty in that angle, only adding to his flustered state. A state further increased when Kory came at him with a shoulder charge that he barely flipped over and when she turned to be ready for his landing, he got a VERY interesting view from above as he was at the apex of his flip over the Tamaranean.

Naruto mentally got his head back in the match and out of the gutter as he was soon blocking a fist from Kory and another kick from Diana at the same time. He quickly pushed their attacks aside and quickly launched a combined attack of his own this time around. The blonde finally decided to use some of his chakra to help him increase his durability a bit more before he would use his abilities to engage in close combat again with the two females who were really making things difficult for him. He personally did not want to resort to using his chakra in a spar, but if there was one thing he learned in his years as Hokage, it was that fighting fair was a foreign concept to ninja and if needed, he would have to fight dirty to win. He knew that this was a bit overkill but if this kept up, he was going to have to go all out anyway.

…

The fact that Diana decided to amp things up with her asking him to use his chakra in the match made this a lot easier.

"Hokage, use your chakra in this fight, I want to see how you use it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that while blocking a punch from Diana while Kory moved in to attack with a kick of her own to which Naruto flipped backward to avoid the attack. Normally Diana would have preferred to fight Naruto one on one from the beginning, but she wanted to give the blonde a challenge since he wanted one, plus she liked Kory as a friend and ally so this did not bother her. However she decided that next time it would be just her and Naruto in a spar. Naruto did not know what was going on in the mind of the raven haired warrior princess and spoke to her.

"You want me to use my chakra in this spar?"

"Of course, besides, Batman stated that the room is reinforced along with whatever equipment is here right now. Go all out for now Hokage, I want to see you show your power."

Kory was more than willing to support the idea as she spoke to Naruto.

"Yes Friend Naruto, we can handle it."

Naruto could tell that both Diana and Kory were very serious about their suggestion and decided to do what they asked since he had already used his chakra to increase his durability a bit.

The blonde soon felt his chakra flow through him and the two women moved together to test him with another set of combined attacks from the two of them. Diana attacked with a rising kick to the head of the blonde and when Naruto blocked the attack with his arm, she moved to strike with a punch to his chest, Naruto countered by Naruto as he flipped over Diana, using his chakra to actually stick to Diana as he grabbed her shoulder with one hand used his foot to move Kory's punch to block her attack. He then landed behind Diana who turned to attack him with a backhand strike to hit him.

He quickly dodged the attack and landed a full palm strike into the woman's torso with his chakra increasing the power of the strike. Diana grunted from the impact as Naruto quickly ducked the incoming kick from Kory and then moved to using his chakra to increase his speed a bit and managed to avoid two more strikes from the Tamaranean as he managed to move into the air and land a powerful dropping axe kick that she blocked with both her arms. The blow had a good deal of power as the metal floor depressed a bit as Naruto moved to using his chakra to stick to her as he moved to grab her shoulders, This allowed him to have some traction as he got behind her to suddenly move down to throw Kory back to land on the ground. Naruto quickly turned to evade several attacks from Diana who grunted a bit at his evasion of her attacks and he quickly ducked a punch and used a sweep kick to force her back, which he used to launch himself at her to fire a kick at Diana which she blocked with her own arm, she was about to counter attack but he quickly launched a punch that she evaded and managed to kick Naruto hard in the chest.

Naruto groaned at the impact but landed on his feet and had to admit that the blow was pretty strong. But he got up and readied himself on the off chance he had to fight again, though it was clear that the fight was over as Kory and Diana began to relax a bit. Diana wondered if Naruto had used the full potential of his chakra in this fight as she had felt something coming from him that was somehow connecting to her skin. But she decided to put an end to this fight.

"It seems that the fight is in the favor of both myself and Kory Hokage."

Naruto grunted a bit but he grinned, making Diana wonder why he was making such an expression. And Naruto spoke to the Amazon with the grin on his face while rubbing the area she had hit him.

"I have to admit that the blow you gave hurt me Diana-hime, but that hardly means that I wasn't able to get a hit on you that can be considered a serious blow."

Kory looked at Diana and pointed at her arm.

"Friend Diana! Look at your arm!"

…

She did so and saw that there was a cut there and a bruise as well, proof that the blow Naruto had used was a lot more powerful than she had expected. She had to admit that the battle had been so intense that she had not noticed the blow. She looked at Naruto who was rubbing the area where he had been hit while smiling a bit and she gave him a nod of approval.

"It seems that the contest did not come with a victor as we both injured one another. I guess the match is a draw."

Naruto nodded and replied with a rueful look.

"Yeah…but damn…you can really pack a hell of a hit Diana-hime. Still it was am amazing fight, if you ever came to my home world, I can easily bet you would make a name for yourself as a Kunoichi."

Diana smiled as she checked her arm where the cut and slight bruise was, already her wounds healed at a good clip due to her inherent healing abilities. Normally being wounded by a man was a bad thing for an Amazon but Diana had developed a level of respect for Naruto and his skills were quite respectable. And the fact that he had grown up in a world where women were not only free to pursue their own interests but have earned great renown and even led forces in battle as well as fight in battle made her respect him a lot more.

She knew that there might be some secrets Naruto may have, but then again the same could be said for her as well. She had not yet told the others that she had left her homeland without permission from her mother the Queen and no doubt she had made her people worry greatly due to her being gone. She mentally gave a sigh and hoped that she could be able to come back home and be able to mend fences with her mother and her sisters when the time came.

She turned to see Naruto looking at her wound intently and she wondered what he was doing until he spoke.

"That wound still hurting Diana-hime?"

"A little, but I am healing well enough."

"I can speed it up if you want?"

Diana was surprised and so was Kory and she was more than willing to ask how he planned to do that.

"How?"

Naruto sighed and began to summon his chakra and soon a glowing nimbus of green chakra came out from his hands and soon he moved to the scar. Diana was curious and was a bit surprised when she felt the chakra hit her wound and it was not because it was bad to her senses. Instead it actually felt, warm, gentle and calming to her and she actually felt her flesh mend. Naruto soon moved his hands away and she saw that any trace of the wound was all gone as the glowing chakra faded from Naruto's hands,

Kory was wide eyed as Diana was as she flexed her arm and could see that what happened was no illusion at all, her arm was indeed fully healed. Soon Naruto grinned a bit as he saw their reaction, while he was hardly a fully skilled Medic Nin nor was he the caliber of say Sakura and Tsunade, nor did he have the skills of Hinata, he had learned enough on how to use healing chakra to deal with most wounds. But he usually let the real healers do the work since he did have his highly potent life force for he healing bit along with Kurama's own potent chakra reserves to speed up the whole thing so they could use their talents on those who needed it, plus he was not a full fledged Medic Nin and thus did not have the higher level knowledge of full Medic Nin.

Still, having the skills certainly helped and he was not the kind to forget anything that can spell the difference between victory or defeat.

And Diana approved as she spoke.

"Impressive…I did not know you were skilled as healer…if I recall it right, you mentioned that there were ninja who were healers…Medic Nin?"

"Yep, I'm not a full fledged Medic Nin and thus I don't have the full skill set along with the other healing and curative techniques, but I at least have enough skills and experience to heal basic and some serious wounds."

Diana nodded in approval at that as such a talent set was invaluable in her mind. She was all the more curious and asked more pointed questions about Charka and she was not the only one as Kory was also very curious. In truth though, the line of conversation quickly made Naruto realize a few things, while it was true that he could sense chakra in the others, he noted a large amount differences in their unique chakra types as well. Superman/Clark Kent's chakra was different and so were that of the others no doubt due to being an alien and reliant on solar radiation from the sun of Earth, though he did wonder why red sun radiation, whatever the hell that was, had the reverse effect on his powers. The others who had very unusual chakra being that they were alien were obviously Koriand'r. Shayera, and J'onn with differences between the three. In fact the only ones who were human were Green Lantern, Batman, and Flash, though Flash had a slightly higher chakra pool compared to the two which was possibly due to his accident that gave him powers.

But he noted something odd about Diana's own chakra type.

He had not gotten into serious details about it for now since he had other matters to deal with. But now that he thought about it, he had sensed for some reason that Diana's chakra was like a fusion of normal chakra for living humans…and Nature chakra.

That was surprising to him since the only times he had ever felt nature chakra in living beings, were when he was in Sennin Mode and when he tangled with the Ten Tails. The fact that Diana had it and a very unique variant and amount of said Nature chakra was also rather interesting to the blonde as he had never felt this variant before. And it seemed to be part of her body's own network without draining easily and also be utterly harmless to Diana, in fact it seemed that this unique chakra was more beneficial to the princess in more ways than merely one. In fact, if he was to wager a guess, it might have to do with her healing ability and it might mean that Diana's Amazons could have that same unique connection.

That was more confusing to him since as far as he knew, no one practiced chakra here, and even if there was the possibility that the Amazons had some knowledge on it as well as some way to train their sisters on how to harness Nature Chakra, then it would have made sense for Diana to have used it ever since she came here. The fact that she had not shown ANY signs of a user of Nature chakra made him very curious how it was possible.

It also made him wonder what would happen if she did get the training on how to use chakra…Sure she was not exactly at the right age like he was in the Academy, but that unique chakra she had seemed to tell him otherwise.

(But that can wait…now is not the time to think on this until I get to sample the Nature Chakra from her homeland. Whatever it is and how come she has an amount of it in her body naturally)

The three of them continued the discussion with Diana and Kory unaware of his thoughts for the moment and once they were done Diana decided to go and help with Monitor duty. This naturally left Naruto alone with Kory the two of them parted company, and as Naruto and Koriand'r headed to take some food to eat after the spar, she decided to ask him if they could visit this place called the Beverly Center in L.A which she heard about and was interested to see as she had not been to one yet. Naturally Naruto knew just what she was referring to and decided to do so. It was high time she got to be a regular woman having a day off from work.

Though it would be plainly obvious that the definition of work between them would be very different from what normal people did for a living.

…

Later in L.A…

Naruto sighed a bit as he was using his Henge to disguise himself at least in terms of face so he did not have his whisker marks, his eyes were now deep violet and had made his normally spiky hair go down and be in a ponytail while accompanying a disguised Kory around the city on what was her newest outing. Sure no one knew he was Hokage but he was not taking chances at this point and time.

Kory had taken some time to convince to not go out in her hero outfit and after some time, she finally consented to his request for her to be dressed.

She finally decided wear simple clothing for this little excursion, which included a simple long sleeved white shirt and comfortable jeans along with shoes but like before, even regular civilian clothing looked so damn enticing on the beautiful Tamaranean that it seemed almost pointless to try and hide her. And of course there was the fact that Kory being comfortable in her skin, despite agreeing to his request was none too happy in being forced to wear clothing, but apparently her desire to learn more of Earth alongside Naruto was enough to make her agree to it. And it seemed that clothes were comfortable enough for her to accept them even more, which was a hell of a lot better than her regular outfit.

And already there was a LOT of eyes at Kory, mostly the male kind and even some female kind to which Naruto could not help but snicker at mentally to himself. Though to be perfectly honest with himself, he was just as guilty as the men were for staring at Kory. Only difference was, he had seen her naked more times than most. And he was sorely tempted to rub it in on more than one instance that he was the only guy thus far she was willing to go in the nude for in his own house.

But he decided not to, that was asking for trouble in more ways than one. At the moment, they were walking towards one of the known malls in Los Angeles as she had wanted to see the place after seeing it on T.V, and already her appearance was attracting all manner of attention, benign or malevolent. More than one person took pictures of Kory, men stared or rather ogled, women were jealously looking at her and giving their boyfriends, and husbands the proverbial evil eye, and women who were into women, or both women and men looked at her with great interest. None of which mattered much to Kory at the moment as she was focused on looking at all she can see.

Naruto was not far behind as some of the women were looking at him in interest, men were looking at him in annoyance due to the fact that their female companions were looking at him, and men who were more into men looked at him as well, much to his annoyance. Thankfully no one had tried to get into their personal space just yet since he was not in the mood to get into a confrontation on his date with Kory. But he was no fool either and knew that sooner or later, someone was going to try something very soon.

But considering what he could do and what Kory could do when she was angry (And boy what a terrifying sight an enraged Starfire was!), he couldn't help but feel that whoever did get on Kory's nerves to the point she lost her temper was either had balls of titanium, or had little to no regard for his own wellbeing.

The Tamaranean beauty soon went to what appeared to an ice cream shop and looked at the various flavors, Naruto having tasted cold treat kid growing up enjoyed a treat like that every now and then. Though prior to the villagers and ninja changing their views on him were usually either locking their doors to him, or raising the prices high enough that he could not buy any of them unlike Iruka was with him or in the days prior to his death, Jiraiya. It was a different matter outside of Konoha though so he enjoyed outings when he got ice cream.

Here in this world on the other hand, it was obviously a far different matter all together and he had tried a number of flavors that he liked.

He saw Kory look at one batch of ice cream and silently prayed that his wallet would survive this.

…

Hours later…

(And there' goes half the month's accumulated salary…man now once more I know how Iruka sensei feels every time he treated me out to ramen.)

But once he moved from looking at his now empty wallet to looking to see a blissfully happy Kory enjoying her fourth of seven pizzas along with three nice orange ice slushie made him rethink the feeling on his mind.

(Oh well, at least it was for a good cause.)

What was the reason for said thought coming from the blonde?

Starfire had bought a number of things, namely clothing and a few other items that cost him a fairly hefty sum, coupled with the other things she bought since she found them interesting. That was not counting the fact that he had to spend a fairly heft sum for the ice cream that she ate, along with having to tolerate a large number of males who looked perversely at Kory licking her ice cream, not doubt imagining who knew what in their heads.

Not that he was not guilty of that himself, but at least he was ale to control himself and had respect for Kory as he knew her story and while she was more open with him, he knew it was only because he never took advantage of her. The day he took advantage of a woman was the day he would willingly allow himself to be killed by his enemies.

. It seemed that regardless of race or in his case, dimension, shopping was hard wired into the mindset of women, either for comfort, or fashion, or both. Of course there were marked exceptions to that rule in his mind.

(Tenten-chan always preferring buying the latest weapons off the blacksmith than clothing considering all those weapon scrolls she had on her when I met her in the past. She always bought only clothes she felt comfortable with and only bought dresses for special occasions.)

He smiled slightly in memory of his long deceased fellow Konoha ninja and wondered just what she was doing now in the afterlife. He was so deep in thought on the matter that he had not noticed the look of concern coming from Kory until she touched him on the face.

"Are you all right friend Naruto?"

THAT woke him up from his current trip down memory lane and his eyes widened on the fact that Kory had said his real name in public! He quickly looked about and was slightly pleased by the fact that no one was taken keen eared to have heard his name. Granted he wore a mask when being in his Hokage persona, but he was not keen on the idea of anyone figuring him out to be Hokage since it was already made aware that he was usually with Starfire when they were out on patrol. He was also pleased that at least the people were making a lot of noise so unless one of them had some serious equipment to pick up voices then he was in the clear.

He turned to face Kory and spoke.

"I am fine Kory-chan, but you know you're not supposed to use my real name when out in public remember?"

"Oh! Sorry…I forgot, but you were so quiet and I tried to call your attention, you did not respond so I was worried. On Tamaren, we are fairly open about talking about many things, so may I ask what troubles you and if I can help you?"

Naruto smiled at that and replied.

"No worries, just thinking about my old friends, they are long gone now."

Kory gave a small nod and replied.

"I see, I am sorry for you…"

But she smiled and hugged him, unmindful f the fact that her doing so got groans of dismay and growls of anger from the men, and some from the women. Naruto on the other hand could not help but smile at her very friendly nature and he could tell that her sudden show of affection was genuine and at least no one had done anything that could be considered hostile to the two of them. Kory soon moved away and spoke to him earnestly.

"But I promise to be as good a friend to you as long as we are together."

Naruto smiled at that and soon they decided to get back to enjoying their little vacation. However, to their surprise, the crowds near them began to run away and scream. Briefly Naruto wondered if there was a sudden attack but when he reached out with some of Kurama's chakra, he sensed none of the emotions that would denote an attack and people in danger. In fact, it was the exact polar opposite. They were happy and surprised, along with the usual emotions men had when seeing a woman who was drop dead gorgeous. Naturally there were darker reactions from the ladies and he wondered if a celebrity had just arrived so he moved his chakra senses a bit further out to determine who it was.

The very second he felt the chakra of the person the rest of the mall were looking at…he was surprised.

(She's here?)

Kurama also sensed that and inside his partner's mindscape, the Nine Tailed Fox smirked in his own way and spoke.

(("Oh yeah, this just got interesting."))

The very second the crowd parted, the arrival turned out to be none other than Diana of Themyscria, or rather Wonder Woman. The blonde had no idea just what she was doing here, and how she found them, but he knew better than to complain for the time being as the Amazon beauty looked around, unmindful of all the looks being sent at her direction, though acknowledging to some extent the looks of desire from women who naturally in this case were more into women than men…though the blonde had no doubt there were women who were into both men and women admiring her.

Kory turned and smiled warmly and without bothering to control herself, quickly flew towards Diana and landed there and hugged the raven haired and blue eyed Amazon beauty. Diana could tell the genuine happiness in the hug that Kory gave her and responded in kind to her actions as she hugged the Tamaranean princess in exile back.

As soon as the hug ended, the Tamaranean was busy chatting away with her fellow Justice League member, and already the stares directed at the two beauties were getting a lot more intense. The reason being that Diana did not wear any form of disguise at all so she was in her full gear which was pretty darn distracting…though compared to seeing her AND Kory in both their uniforms would have made the image of the two beauties hugging on another tame. As soon as they parted from one another, the two walked back and Diana knew that this was Naruto in what he called his Henge. And she knew that since Naruto had a secret identity that only the others in the League knew about, she was not going to reveal that identity to the public. The public only knew him as the Hokage, but not as Naruto Uzumaki and she respected that.

"Greetings, happy to see you here Hokage."

Naruto nodded at that and replied in kind.

"Nice to see you as well Wonder Woman, what brings you here to Los Angeles?"

"I figured seeing the city that you and Starfire protect when not in the League was in order since I have to confess that staying in the Watch Tower was getting to rather dull. I hope you and Starfire do not mind my presence here?"

Naruto had no reason why he would not like her being here, and neither would Starfire as she spoke with a happy tone her voice as she was looking forward to having company with them here and Diana being said company was more than welcome. Kory being the more vocal and open hearted one of the bunch replied.

"It would be glorious to have you with us friend Wonder Woman!"

Naruto shrugged and nodded in approval while smiling, inside himself however, he could not help but feel like he was going to be in for another round of shopping. Thankfully he did always carry a spare envelop of money on his person, hidden away from sight. He only hoped that Diana did not have a shopping bug like Kory did.

…

(Thank the Kami that she is not as bad as Kory-chan!)

Naruto's relief was evident as Diana had only bought a small number of clothes that appealed to her which was pretty interesting since the clothing was not native to her. She did not go to the cosmetics section which was a good thing to the blonde for two reasons, the first was that some of the stuff being sold there cost a lot. And the second was the fact that she did not look like she needed to have any form of makeup ands the like since she was gifted well with natural beauty. Any attempt to have her wear any of that stuff felt like it was both redundant and useless to his view and apparently the same went for the Amazon herself since she found no reason for her to have them in her purchases. Heck she even asked him why women would wear this to hide their beauty.

Thankfully, having been married before his arrival here, and having taken care of his own daughters who had gotten married, he was able to answer her instead of acting like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.

"Well, not every woman is born with perfect features like you so they use these to attract a man."

"Why would they do that?"

"It's something that happens a lot here than in Themyscira Wonder Woman so it's considered natural here, and since men and women do have children here in Man's world, it's what one would expect."

"Is all of this to attract men necessary?"

"Depends on the view point of the woman I guess, it's best to not forget that not all men are as bad as you might have heard, and there ARE women who can be considered bad or worse as well. Humanity is a mixed bag of people so it's best to learn to look at all things on both sides than just one."

"I see…"

Naruto grinned and replied.

"And besides, you've already met a number of men already that can show you that not ALL men are like those your tutors describe."

That was not going to be the end of the conversation in his view since Diana was still getting used to living in the world where men were as plentiful as women. And no doubt she would hold on to her trained cultural views, but if there was one thing he learned in his long years of being alive, times and things can change. Diana would soon learn that while some of the things her mentors taught her about men were true, not everything was true and that at times, women can be just as dangerous or worse than the men.

But that could wait for now as they were still making the most of the day before them.

An interesting factor in this new and unexpected shopping trip was the fact that a lot of the people manning the places that the Amazon had bought in were willing to lower prices due to the fact that they were dealing with Wonder Woman of the Justice League, and did the same for Starfire, they also did the same to a lesser extent to him, though it was obvious that the ladies were the ones getting the better treatment.

Not that it bothered him that much though he was very sure that he was going to have to work double time for getting his cash reserves back into good shape. The good thing at least was that no one was…

(("Don't finish that train of thought Kit, you KNOW what happens whenever you think that."))

Naruto mentally groaned at that as he recalled that whenever he thought things would not get any worse, they usually did.

…

Unfortunately…his worries were realized when the three heroes of the League heard shouting and panicking nearby. Naruto quickly used his Senjutsu chakra to try and find out just what was going on and soon felt an undercurrent of panic. He soon sensed six signatures of people with hostile intent in the mall and he quickly turned to the two super-heroines.

'We got trouble…come on!"

The two nodded and despite the fact she was wearing civilian clothes, Kory took to the air alongside Diana as Naruto quickly moved forward to get somewhere safe to change clothing right away. He carried a spare set of his Hokage clothing and armor in a seal scroll and he was going to find a place to get into gear. He wanted to avoid the cameras in the place since the last thing he wanted was to have his mug without the mask all over the place even if he was in Henge. Hankfully no one was going to stop him as he quickly got into an area not easily watched by the cameras and quickly got dressed.

He soon donned his full armor and mask, moved back to join the two female heroes to find out what was going. They did not have to wait long to get their answer won what was going on.

Before them happened to be a large number of armed thugs, carrying assault rifles and hoods, the way these guys moved showed that they were not regular hoods. And the fact that they got body armor on only made that fact a lot more apparent than most and he would have togo all out. But he had a feeling that this was not going to go the way the gang envisioned their little robbery attempt.

And it was…

The very second one of the thugs turned at their direction, Kory came in and landed one hell of a flying kick to send the man flying backwards. One of the guys armed with a shotgun turned to shoot at Kory, only for Diana to come in with her lasso to hold him down and yanked him towards her.,…for her to land a real haymaker on his face.

"Cowards! Fight with honor!"

Diana obviously was not keen on fighting people who used what she felt was cowardly weapons, but at least she was aware not to take chances as the thugs turned to shoot at her. She used the bullets and bracers bit and sent the bullets away as he came to her side.

"Wonder Woman, we need to make sure those bullets don't go flying about and hit innocent bystanders!"

"Understood!"

Diana did just that as she sent the bullets away in different angles that made sure to avoid civilians while Naruto quickly took out a spair of shuriken and tossed them into the guns of two other thugs, causing them to jam up on contact. That was the opening he needed as he charged in and quickly landed a punch and kick combination to the two before leaping upwards to land a combined kick to their faces and using their falling bodies as spring boards to leap over another shooter and then kicked him to his knees before landing a knee strike of his own into the face to send the guy out.

Another thug shouted as he turned to shoot Naruto.

"DIE YOU FREAK!"

THAT however enraged a certain Tamaranean beauty as she charged in and then took the gun from the man. And before his eyes she broke it into nothing but useless halves.

"DO NOT DARE CALL MY FRIEND A FREAK!"

The man saw the enraged look on the beauty's face and nigh pissed himself when she summoned her energy and landed a fist to his face. Thankfully his head did not blow up like a rotten melon on impact. But it was a fact that he was going to be drinking from a straw for the next few months. The guy was out like a light and soon the three faced the thugs as Naruto drew his sword and had a kunai at the ready, Diana cracked her knuckles a bit and readied her lasso while Kory charged up a pair of powerful green starbolts at the ready.

The thugs…realizing how outmatched they were did the only thing reasonable.

They dropped their guns.

Later, Naruto sighed as he, Diana, and Kory watched the thugs being dragged off to be arrested and soon the police got the sworn statements of the witnesses and the three League members in question. He was not pleased by the outcome of the whole day but at least he was pleased that no one had been hurt and when things seemed to calm down, he faced both Diana and Koriand'r.

"Sorry about this, the whole day was ruined."

Kory shook her head and replied with a warm smile on her face.

"No worries about that one Friend Hokage, I enjoyed this day immensely."

Diana also nodded and spoke to the blonde ninja.

"I am not disappointed, this was an interesting experience, at any rate…I should head back, it's my turn to take over for J'onn after all. I'll make sure to store these away."

They bid Diana farewell and soon the two headed off on their own…unaware that they had observers on the two of them as well as Diana. And the observers belonged to three different groups and neither of them were aware of one another.

Naruto would have sensed them and their intent had it not been for two things. One he was busy being pestered by the media again. And the second was after he finally convinced them to leave, Kory dropped a message to him…Apparently someone from one of the clothing brands stores in the mall had decided to take the initiative and.

"She asked you to be a model?"

"Yes friend Hokage! Isn't that exciting?"

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Okay, now most of you would be already aware that I have not sent the latest arc that deals with the Injustice Gang, but I assure you this is not some filler but part of the story either way. Kory's little date/outing with Naruto was a long time coming so I figured getting it done was in order. That way this was to show that some down time was in order before we get to the fun part.

Now a lot of people have decided to mention to me to try and use the female version of Copperhead from the Batman Game Arkham Origins. Now I have seen the images of said character and rather viable an option for a change. Only problem with that idea is that someone already cooked it up and I personally do not like the idea of using that same method since it sounds like I'm taking the writer's own idea and making it my own without his or her consent.

And trust me, I have less than stellar memories of that event as it is, so to be fair, I'll leave that up to the reviewers being you.

Do you want the old Copperhead from DCAU, or do you want the female version?

I KNOW it's redundant but hey, it's part and parcel of the workload.

Also I was recently asked by a reviewer to use the DC New 52 Prime Earth Gotham female villain White Rabbit. I looked her over and figured that it can be possible, though I have yet to work on the details.

…

Brother Blood and his Church will make their move soon enough, but they will not be alone, as I do plan to have some new villains take to the wings. Though in this case…they don't exactly match the…traditional villains in my view for them, I'll just leave it at that. Also I am still open to new villains to be added to the whole roster for Naruto to personally consider his Rogue's gallery.

Now as to the meeting between Cheetah and Naruto, it will have some interesting results in the Injustice Arc so let me worry about it okay?

…

Okay, an update on Naruto's love life, I know this might sound to be in the realms of why the hell did I want to talk about? But I think we should get an update on the ladies in question who might be in the harem bit. Just so we're clear, I am still sticking to my point of making the relationships believable for all to read and see. The pairings I will NOT touch are:

Superman/Clark Kent-Lois Lane

Oliver Queen/Green Arrow-Dinah Lance/Black Canary

Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl-John Stewart/Green Lantern

And a few others, so now we can move on to the potential ladies who are seriously going to be part of the h theme. And those obviously who are not going to be part of it but are friends with Naruto.

…

Supergirl – Tempting, but I figured they are more into a mentor-student kind of thing since he takes the time to teach her some Taijutsu techniques when they get to know one another. Besides, Superman would have a hissy fit if I did that route.

Vixen – Hmm, to be perfectly honest, the idea is nice to try since I do plan to have her meet Naruto at some point. She might sense the presence of the Bijuu and it can make things interesting. I recalled in the DC comics that she got killed by the Shadow Thief that would end of being the cause for John and Shayera being together to have Rex. That was not what I wanted for this fic so she is not with Stewart here.

Starfire – She will be one of the ladies after Naruto and will be in the H bit. I'll expand on this more to make sure it's going to work out. Some complained about the way Kory acted when I introduced her and all are valid so I will work on this when I can. But to be clear, Starfire is one of the ladies in the running.

Batgirl – Maybe…even though the age difference can be a major issue as Barb might be turned off a lot by the idea of being involved with a guy who technically is a hundred years old. But considering that Naruto does look darn good for someone who should be worm food, she MIGHT overlook that detail. And he is a nice person after all and while she might be a bit disturbed by his willingness to go ruthless, he rarely does so that can help.. More planning for that later in the near future so please don't jump the gun on this matter until then.

Raven – Answer to her being intimate with Naruto…no. I don't want to do that but they will be good friends and I personally like the whole Beast Boy Raven thing. But if I can be convinced otherwise, I will change that idea.

Carol – Naruto's drop dead gorgeous boss…not too sure about that,, but I have been contacted to try and borrow the Blue Beetle concept. Not a bad idea but will take time to plan out.

Pamela Isley – Oh she is a given since she is one the only immortal women in the running. She is immortal in the sense that she can rely on sunlight for power and nourishment. Her connection to natural energy also helps and she can be healed by her powers. I plan to have her and Naruto go on a very personal mission that eventually makes her renounce her criminal past and eventually become a reformed villainess and be on the side of the heroes.

I might even revamp her look for one reason or another.

Harley – Tempting to be sure, will work out the details on it when I can though I have to do so only when I am done introducing her with Naruto. Question on said plan is how though without making it look like a ripoff from other writers. I would also change her look since the one she usually has in the DCAU of the Justice League is not that appealing. She may not be with Naruto but that remains to be determined…or if you guys want, she comes along since she is with Pamela since they do team up a lot in the past. I might even…well, you know what I mean so why bother explaining it?

Cheetah – Hmmm…possible since she and Naruto have met and he knows what its like to be branded a freak and worse all your life….even though they were different in origins and the like. She might be surprised that he accepts her for what she is now and since she technically in this series is not a hardened killer unlike in the comics, it might work. Plus her powers may help her have a higher life span.

Giganta – Not too sure of her just yet. Might pair him with Flash since she did show she was sweet on him. Weird idea since considering she tried to flatten him for looking up her skirt. But hey, stranger things have happened. Or I could pair her with Naruto since Fire did flirt with him a lot so that is an option.

Diana/Wonder Woman – Oh she is in the running, no doubts there, she is one of the only two immortals in this bunch so she can really be part of it. Like before though, I will work on how to make their relationship work out and in a way that would make it acceptable to her people and her mother.

Selina Kyle – No, friendly rivalry and a bit of flirting, but no… the idea of her and Naruto being romantically involved is not happening. I might do the idea of having Bruce and Selina finally get hitched….though how I am going to do that is still up for debate.

…

Yeesh…I just realized that if I do include Giganta, Carol, Kory, Barbara, and Pamela, he has more redheads with him than most.

Heh, almost sounds like he's a sucker for redheads.

Oh…and if ANYONE wants to suggest the movie version of Artemis (NOT Artemis Crock mind you) and her sister Alexa, please make sure to explain WHY I should include them okay?

And yes, in the comics Koriand'r DID modeling once…

…

Okay…that's it for now.


	14. Chapter 15

Justice League Fire Shadow

Disclaimer: I have no ownership on anything related to Naruto and Justice League…so stop hounding me damn it!

Chapter 9

Part 1

The Injustice Gang

( ): Thoughts/Conversation with Kurama

((" ")): Kurama's voice…

…

In what appeared to be a large hotel complex in L.A…

"Slow down Kory!"

"Sorry friend Alex, I just do not want to be late for this meeting."

The Hokage was currently using once more his Henge to take a far different facial appearance while retaining the blonde hair he knew would be the indicator of him being the Hokage. But with his face different from his actual face, not many would recognize him quickly enough even if no one had actually seen his real mug. It sounded redundant but Naruto had not made it this far in his life as a Shinobi without having plans that would pop into his head and be ready for use when needed.

Naruto had no idea how he got himself to be dragged here to this place where Kory was supposed to go for her first stint as a model, but here he was now so he might as well suck it up. Besides he could not ever find it in himself to say no, especially when Kory subconsciously used the Sad Puppy Dog Eyes move even if he was certain he never taught her that. He was willing to wager a guess she might have seen it somewhere in one of those TV shows she took an interest in recently. The only thing he could take comfort in at this point was the fact that she was using the new cover name he gave her well, even though she obviously did not like using that and not his real name.

Apparently whoever the person was that managed to get Kory to work as a model decided to have her work with a mentor, namely a female model who had been in the business a lot longer than most to help her adjust. She was supposed to be here in the meeting place to meet Kory and evaluate her in a photo-shoot that would be Kory's first run as a model and at the moment, no mention of swimsuits being added. That was something of a disappointment to him but he fought that part down.

As soon as they arrived, Kory looked around to see the many people moving around with her eyes looking from person to person in her seeing range. Naruto did likewise though he was a bit more discreet in his looking since he was making sure that no one was there with ill intentions. He was well aware that models like most celebrities had their own share of dangers, from overtly eager fans to obsessed stalkers so better to be careful. He also was taking a gander at the ladies in this place to be sure, and while there were definitely some attractive faces, they were not that attractive in his view to the ones he was familiar with, namely the ladies he worked with on occasion in the League.

Kurama on the other hand seemed to have more interesting ideas in mind.

(("Well now…some very beautiful faces and bodies here…fancy new material for your work?"))

(Maybe…but right now I want to know who is the mentor of Kory here.)

(("So you can get her to bed?"))

(Shut up.)

(("Yeah right…anyway, looks like were not going to deal with obsessive stalkers and crazed fans or anything today. Which is a good idea though I am picking up something odd coming from somewhere. You sense it?"))

Naruto mentally agreed, he had begun to pick up some form of…energy of sorts nearby, whatever it was it seemed primal, not chakra to be sure, but something else entirely. He decided to look around a bit more and hone in on what it was. It was not hostile to be sure, but there was no way that he was going to dismiss something until he was certain of it not being a threat to him or Kory, or anyone in the area.

It was not long before Kurama spoke.

(("Hmmm…it's not chakra to be sure, but it is primal energy, I'm guessing it might be similar to the powers used by that woman…who was that back in Gotham, ah, the one named Zatanna."))

(Magic huh? So is it in a person?)

(("More like an amulet or charm of sorts…and it's coming closer, right there kit."))

Naruto moved to where the source of the signal was, and when he did home in on the source of the energy signal, he could not help but stare. The object appeared to be a pendant of sorts, a necklace like on of those tribal necklaces he had seen in his research of this world, while having some similarities to some items in his world. But none of that was the reason the blonde Shinobi was staring…more to the fact the reason he was staring was who was the person wearing said necklace.

The person in question happened to be a drop dead gorgeous dark skinned and dark haired woman who smiled in his and Kory's direction.

Naruto could not help but stare at the ebony skinned beauty who was now moving in their direction. It wasn't that he was unfamiliar with those who's skin tone was dark or light brown, most of the Shinobi and Kunoichi in Kumo had that skin tone. But this new arrival certainly had the aura of someone who was very capable…and he had a feeling that it was not merely as a model. She had a very lush but strong and well toned build on her, her arms were also showing some level of strength and as he looked closer, he could see that despite the long gloves she wore, she was tall to be sure though not as tall as others despite the fact that she did have high heels, and in her current outfit which was some form of skin hugging golden yellow suit that had a V there in the middle which was able to show more of her skin as well as her bust which was pretty impressive…she was stunning to say the very least.

However…he had to admit she did look rather familiar to him, and no his recognition of the woman in question was not through the reading of magazines since he had been rather busy as of late to crack open one of those magazines in question. The blonde quickly knew that he had to play his cards right and not look like an ass as Kory greeted the woman. Apparently she was the mentor that Kory had been assigned to. And judging from the smiles on both of their faces, it seemed that Kory and the African woman as he recalled it right were getting along rather well.

That was a good thing since Naruto had enough knowledge to know that despite all the glamour and flash, modeling was a tough gig and he was not in the mood to have someone as impressionable and kind hearted as Kory being taken advantage of by anyone with less than scrupulous intent on her person. He had enough of those criminal perverts who do that whenever he two of them would show up to stop them when they did something that went against the law.

Kory was soon quick to turn back her attention to him and brought him forward to meet her mentor in modeling.

"Friend Alex, I would like you to meet my mentor in modeling."

Naruto naturally gave the woman a smile but before they could talk a lot more and allowing him to get a feel of the woman, she turned when one of the people here working with the models and their clothing called to her attention. They were speaking in what appeared to be Italian, a language he could not speak but was familiar with since some of the employees in Carol's office were from Italian families and would speak to one another in the same language.

The woman smiled and spoke to him once they were in an area that was not as populated by the people.

"Since you're with Kory, or rather Starfire, I take it you're the Hokage?"

"Yeah, and let's leave it at that…miss?"

The woman smirked a bit and replied.

"Mari, Mari Jinwe McCabe at your service."

(Mari…she certainly looks attractive to be sure, but I still feel like she's familiar to me.)

(("Maybe Naruto, but right now, let's remain focused on finding out more before we make a judgment."))

"Good to meet you as well Miss Mari."

Mari grinned and then replied.

"Wow, pretty polite guy aren't you? Not what I expected from a super hero of all things."

Naruto grinned and replied.

"Thanks, though I will admit that you do look familiar to me, not as a model mind you, but someone else…"

Mari smirked and replied.

"Not in a bad way I hope?"

"Nope, not at all, but at the moment I still need time to see if I can place your face in my memory on why I know you not as a model, anyway it's good to know that Kory's in good hands since you seem like the trustworthy sort."

"Really now? Care to tell me why you would think that of me since we only just met?"

"Let's just say that I have some unique abilities that allow me to sense if someone has ill intent on me or my companions. And as far as I have sensed you don't strike me as the kind who has such ill intent. And I have dealt with people who smile on the outside and act all nice, but are cold and rotten to the core on the inside so I have some danger sense as it were when meeting said people, not as accurate, but it works to be honest. Plus while Kory-chan wears her emotions and heart on a sleeve…she's not that easy to trust people right off the bat, so she must trust you a lot if she is willing to be this friendly with you Miss Mari."

Mari smiled at that and nodded.

"I see, no one has ever had anyone show that level of trust to me, so I guess I should prove that I am worthy of such trust huh?"

"Sure, at any rate, may I ask what exactly is going to happen here?"

Mari did not hesitate to tell the blonde just what was going to be planned for Kory to use. And so far, it was not that bad and he was pleased at least that Mari was all right with being Kory's mentor. Plus despite the still odd energy coming from that necklace (which Naruto had to avoid looking at since it's location made him see the exposed areas of Mari's more than well formed breasts which did not help him in keeping her perverted side under control), he could not sense any negative intent in her towards Kory.

Of course he was certainly going to have a LOT of new material to add to his stories...that much was obvious.

…

Naruto sighed a bit more as he looked at how Kory was handling the business suit bit, he had to admit though that she certainly made a good show in the outfit. He then turned to look at how the rest of the people were handling the fact that they had a gorgeous female alien as a model. Some of the female models were none too happy of Kory while the others were a bit more supportive and actually liked the young alien woman who was showing off well.

((Based on one of the pictures of Starfire modeling))

So far he could see that Starfire was getting used to the attention though he noted that she was not too happy with some of the more…restrictive clothing. And considering that she wore what was essentially swimwear in public, he could easily see why. But considering the array of clothing that was here, the swimwear bit might very well come in soon enough and as much as he was trying to play it cool, he was looking forward to that a great deal.

And he was not the least bit disappointed, doubly so since it seemed that BOTH Mari and Kory were taking the pool side shoot together. The two were certainly looking good together and it seemed that Mari was working hard to help Kory get adjusted to this kind of life, and it helped that everyone knew that she had a LOT of power in her figure as a fighter. Mari on the other hand was hardly the kind one did not look away from. Naruto was pleased to at least know that she was a good person and apparently judging by the martial arts build he could see that mixed well with her modeling figure she could handle herself...

…

As Kory and Naruto left the photo-shoot they were soon joined by Mari who invited them to a restaurant and she was paying for it since she did not often have a protégé in the modeling business. And so far Kory was someone that she could call a talented woman even if by all right she was not a resident native of Earth…after all, when he first appeared a number of modeling agencies were interested in having Superman model for them in the Kryptonian's off hours. Even after the whole Darkseid incident, there were still some of that going on. Of course he was also willing to bet that Supergirl herself would have gotten some offers too.

Naruto grinned while munching on a bit of steak at that thought.

(She would have looked real hot…the farmer's daughter look in a bikini.)

…

"ACHOO!"

Kara Kent shook her head a bit and tried to make sense of why she had suddenly sneezed. As far as she knew, she had never gotten sick in all of her life.

"You okay?"

Kara turned to face none other than her close friend Barbara Goirdon, AKA Batgirl as the redhead had come to Smallville on a bit of a road trip and since they were close friends, she moved to join Kara to relax from her regular life and her other life as Batgirl. And since she was in the know of Kara being a Kryptonian , she had not expected that to happen and was curious.

"Yeah, but somehow I just sneezed…which is weird since Kryptonians don't get sick from Earth sicknesses."

Barbara thought about that and then ventured a guess.

"Maybe someone was talking about you."

Kara raised an eyebrow at that.

…

Naruto decided to end that train of thought since they were now discussing some new projects Kory could try to take part in when she was not on work with Naruto and the League.

Any thought on what new projects Kory could take up had to be cut short though when their communicators came online. They excused themselves and Mari did not mind that, wished them luck and hoped they saw one another again. As they left the super model to meet up with the rest of the League however, Naruto and Kurama well aware now that Mari McCabe was anything but an ordinary if not drop dead gorgeous model, had a feeling that they would meet her earlier than she might think. In fact he might as well check up with Batman on what he knew on her.

…

Later…

The League were currently getting ready for what would be described as the supersized up version of a stakeout. The target of said stakeout was an old enemy of Superman, one who Naruto had been told about and had observed before…Lex Luthor, the man who technically built Metropolis from the ground up. But apparently had one hell of an ax to grind with Clark considering their little war of wills and more had been going on way longer than most would think. So far the plan was going well and they could not help but stay there and listen to Luthor monologue before Superman, who was in reality J'onn and thus was immune to Kryptonite as he only took the form, not all of Superman's traits.

Naruto could not help but shake his head and frown underneath his mask as he looked at the warehouse and listened to the man talk. The whole speech was definitely the traditional villain monologue and it was tedious to the blonde though he had to give Luthor credit for doing this for so long without being found out.

. There were however some things about Lex Luthor that made little sense to the blonde ninja. The most obvious was his long standing grudge with Superman which while understandable at first was looking a TOO excessive in his view.

"I don't get it…"

Superman, the real one, turned and spoke.

"You don't get what Hokage?"

"Why this Lex has got a serious ax to grind against you. I mean he pretty much is a self made man right here, millionaire, captain of industry, efficient, smart to be sure. If he was not a villain and a corrupt bastard, he would have been quite the leading head in his field. Hell he would have made a good ally if not for his lack of morals, so why is he so dead set on either putting you six feet under, or ruining your reputation?"

Superman had to admit that the question was actually a very valid one, so he decided to answer said question.

"Ever since I came to Metropolis and started my…life as a hero, Lex was on my case, when I met him it was over his Exo-suit which he had covertly sold away while making it look like a theft. The leader of that group that would steal the suit would one day be used by Lex as another means to fight me. He was Metallo, the one you fought against to save my cousin when you came to Metropolis."

"You mean the cheapskate version of that movie character named the Terminator? I prefer the original version thank you very much. The guy talked less and was focused on the task, guy's a chatterbox."

Superman chuckled at that and continued.

"Well, Lex has been after me for quite some time and he has resorted to just about everything to try and take me down. Cloning to make Bizzaro, using Kryptonite, Metallo's creation, he even resorted to using magic a few times even if he is a firm advocate of science."

"What do you mean by that?"

Superman filled Naruto in on what he knew that Lex had done to get ahead and even try to end his life more than once. He did have some scruples to be fair, but not enough to fully give him a clean slate when it came to the moral and ethical side of things. Naruto took in all the details and when Superman explained that Lex was angry at the thought of him using his powers to help the common man when he could have easily become a ruler of men. He also mentioned that Lex also disliked the fact that people were more willing to flock to Superman, an alien than a man who had managed to make his way to the top on his own merits and abilities, never mind the fact that Lex's use of said abilities were anything but benevolent.

Naruto took that all in and finally spoke.

"Okay, at leas that cleared it all up for me."

"What do you mean?"

"I almost thought Chrome Top was gay or something."

That made Superman raise an eyebrow thought was obvious he was shocked by that kind of statement.

"You thought Lex was gay? Why?"

"Just a thought…I mean considering how much he seems to enjoy trying to make your life miserable, I almost thought he was getting sexual gratification out of it for some reason."

Superman sighed and tried not to laugh at how Lex would react to such an accusation, oh he knew that Le was straight as an arrow when it came to his…orientation. But he was having a hard time with resisting the image that brought on if someone accused him of that in public. He was actually hoping to record the look with a camera, and who knew how Kara and Lois would react to that accusation.

"Okay…that's one line of conversation that I think we should end."

"I agree sorry about that, looks like we're about to make things interesting for him."

…

Sure enough the trap was sprung and to say that Luthor was less than amused by what happened would have been the same as saying that skunks smelled. However, the wily businessman managed to make things less than easy for the League and managed to get away, but not without getting hit hard by the blonde ninja and he swore to get even with Naruto.

To which he replied.

"Go suck on an egg Chrome Top!"

That did not sit well with Lex to be sure and no doubt he was going to make sure to get his chance to deal with Naruto soon enough, even though that would have been an odd move since he was not a Metropolis resident. But as things began to heat up and Superman was pursuing Le, Naruto who was using his chakra to track Luthor on the off chance he escaped, sensed a massive amount of pain coming from the man as his chakra suddenly dropped and began to behave very erratically.

Superman on the other hand did not and was surprised to see Lex's shuttle go down fast and quickly he and the others rushed to get to him. Once they got there, seeing his rival and nemesis in pain made Superman to a full stop on any intent to arrest him and take him to hospital. The news that came hours later when Luthor was examined…was something that Clark did not like one bit.

And he wondered just how Luthor was going to react.

…

As they left the hospital, Naruto could sense that Superman was really hit hard by this, it showed that despite the less than stellar history between them, Superman was not spiteful towards Lex. In fact he could easily sense that Superman was every sincere in trying to help Lex even though Chrome Top was having none of it. In fact, the man stated that Superman had done quite enough for him and it was clear to the blonde that the statement had enough venom to kill a herd of elephants three times over.

This reminded him of the time that he had to deal with Mizuki when the insane Chuunin, after escaping his prison with his manipulating the Stupid Brothers Fujin and Raijin went off to using a highly unstable formula left by Orochimaru to boost his power. Sure it did just that but when it wore off and he hit the bastard with a Rasengan, the resulting side effect effectively turned the man into a living husk and he lost all hope of being a ninja any way, shape, and form. He was supposed to be a good person to his former fiancé Tsubaki, until Orochimaru got his fangs into his heart, though he wagered a guess that Mizuki was rotten to the core long before hooking up with Orochimaru. And he should have remembered that Orochimaru was not a saint and was more concerned with his goals than the lives of the rest of the villagers and ninja in Konoha.

In that sense, he could easily see Mizuki and Lex being the same kind of person though in hindsight, Mizuki was a bit more of a nut than Lex was since Lex was smart enough NOT to get caught until today.

As soon as they were a fair distance from the place, he decided to test the waters and speak to Clark.

"You all right?"

Clark looked at Naruto and sighed a bit as he responded, being able to hear the concern on the blonde's speech.

"Not really…Luthor may be an enemy of mine, but he does not deserve this fate. I wish I can at least find some way to reverse what happened to him. I know he would not want it and I know that I can't trust him completely to change…"

"I understand that, you feel responsible for this right?"

"Yeah."

Naruto shook his head at that as they came to where the other members of the League were and spoke.

"Well don't…it sounds harsh to be sure, but Luthor brought this on himself the day he began his vendetta against you. I have no doubt that he made the mistake of thinking that just because Kryptonite is far more potent against you and your cousin Kara compared to humans like himself that it would not harm him. He should have recalled that it is a dangerous material to all life, you told me about the time the Joker brought that supposed Jade Dragon made from Kryptonite remember? Several HUMAN owners died when they had it, that fact alone should have told Chrome Top that the thing is dangerous to humans. If anything he should have kept it in a sealed container to prevent the radiation from getting to him, but his obsession for your demise or fall, blinded him to that fact. And now he's paying for it, not you."

Batman who was nearby had to agree with Naruto's words as they made sense, he had a sliver of Kryptonite on his person but he always kept it in a lead lined container in his utility belt to keep it from harming him with radiation. That was simply because after that Jade Dragon debacle, he did his research and knew that while the radiation was deadly to Kryptonians like Clark, it was still radiation and could harm others…just not as openly as Clark's people.

"I agree with Hokage there…Luthor should have treated that the same way anything radioactive is to be treated. It's harsh too, but the truth is there and he knows it."

Clark frowned and sighed.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Kory gave a sad look to Clark, due to her people's empathic nature and she did respect him for showing compassion even to an avowed enemy.

Naruto himself understood where Clark was coming from but decided not to comment on it for a bit more as he allowed Clark time to digest what he and Batman had said until he spoke.

"True…but only time will tell if he can change his ways. But not to sound too much like a cynic or anything, but I doubt we'll see the last of ol' Chrome Top. Guys like him…they are not going to give up no matter what, and this is only going to make it worse."

Clark looked at the hospital and then to the arriving police officers and spoke solemnly.

"I wish it was otherwise, but I get the feeling that you may very well be right."

…

And Naruto was right…

Lex Luthor knew that in hindsight the game was over…there was no doubt that in a few short months he was going to die. He should have known that the Kryptonite was dangerous, but the chance to finally have a major edge over his long time adversary was too tempting to ignore. He recalled the very first moment he had Superman on his knees with the first shard of Kryptonite, even if that moment had not ended well, the chance to finally have Superman on his knees before him made him feel more powerful than most.

That was why he carried it with him at all times…and even more so when he had to work with Joker when Batman and Superman worked together for the very first time. It had been his trump card…and now…it was his death sentence.

But no…instead of thinking on what to do with his life, Lex Luthor's mind was engulfed with only one thought in mind…Superman's fall.

Though it was not the first time he had those thoughts, the urgency of the fact that he was soon going to die only increased the power of his hatred for Superman. Ever since the day the alien came to Metropolis and was embraced by the people, Luthor had it in for the man, he might have tried to brush it off, but the day Superman cast aside his offer to work for him and doing all of his deeds that made people love him, it enraged Luthor.

In his mind, he had worked his ass off to be where he was, he had done all he could to earn every business venture, every dollar, and cent he now had, and he had risen through his own hard work, sweat, and brain power. He had also risen above the masses of his own effort and had the desire to prove that he was someone who could surpass everyone else who did not have the ambition, drive, and willingness to risk all.

Then this…this alien with so much power and abilities came in to use it for the common man instead of showing his power and strength over all. All of those advantages…all of that power, potential…everything…wasted on helping the weak and helpless! It galled Luthor and he vowed to one day bring him down.

As he thought about it more, he felt the lingering pain and growled.

(If only that…bastard never came here. I will not rest until I see you fall Superman.)

It was fairly obvious that Luthor was determined if not more to finally end Superman, but he knew that in order to do that he would need to find some way to stave off the damage that was done to him by the Kryptonite poisoning from spreading even more than before in him. But right now he could not help but get angrier as he heard a lot of noise coming from the other side of his cell.

And he knew just who it was.

"Ultra Humanite! Shut that damn garbage up!"

On the other of the cell, the being in question was quick to speak.

"Garbage? I'll have you know that this is a very educational and worthwhile display of mass media Luthor."

"Shut that thing off or…agggghhh!"

Luthor clutched his chest once more as the pain hit him hard and he managed to rein in his cries to make sure he did not show weakness. If there was ANYTHING that the man hated more than even Superman, it was showing weakness. That made him quiet down and thus did not hear the news of the program that Ultra-Humanite was watching was about to be cut short due to lack of funding, something that apparently did not sit well with the being who frowned at that.

"And there's another good program…honestly, no one has class anymore."

This was the point of the while affair though that Luthor managed to find a way to hack the being's television set.

"Listen Ultra, I need your help to bust out of here, as much as I loathe asking for help, I am…out of options."

However, it seemed that his unexpected speaking partner was well aware of his current plight.

"Ah, I see that your current state from all that Kryptonite you carried around is affecting you. And before you ask, I was aware of the fact that you always carry some on your person. I was surprised that you had not taken any precautions to defend yourself, it was radioactive after all. However…I can help you in making it easier to deal with."

Lex normally would have told the being to buzz off, but he was not stupid either, he knew that Ultra-Humanite was a very intelligent being despite his form and looks apart from being very strong in his own right.

"How?"

"Well, let us talk business then. You provide me the money to keep my entertainment active…and I provide you the way to keep it at bay."

"Deal…how do you propose to leave here though."

"Right after dinner time…which should be right about…now."

…

The very second the call came in and they got an idea who had been among the escapees…the League just knew that this was going to be one of those days. No one had any doubt of that more than Clark as he shook his head, knowing that this was not going to end well. He had hoped that this would put an end to Luthor's scheming since he would have focused on using his time to change his ways since death was coming to him.

And unlike the number of times that he had gotten out of jail through the contacts he had in law enforcement, bribery, and loopholes in the law, Luthor could not do that here since he was pretty much busted. And of course the Kryptonite radiation poisoning that he had would make fighting a moot point so it was his hope hat Luthor would not carry on this vendetta.

But apparently the man was not going to give up any time soon and as such, he had to go and catch him.

The Justice League still had to contend with the fact that Luthor had escaped and this time he was not alone, as the Ultra-Humanite was with him. Naruto was not too sure how to rate the gorilla like being as a threat at first, but his century's worth of experience was enough to remind him not to take people lightly. He did the same when he tangled with his old friend Rock Lee when he first met him. And of course, he learned never to take even ordinary looking people

So he was going to take the word of Batman as they tried to locate them and he soon decided to use his chakra sensory ability in Senjutsu and locate the now sickened chakra signature that Luthor released, but before he could do that, a massive fire broke out so they had to cut the chase short.

Batman managed to enter a burning building to rescue a trapped young girl while the others helped the emergency response personnel as best they could on the other side of the complex as the fires were spreading. Apparently in their escape attempt, both of the two criminals had possibly set off a gas main that led to the fires. Naruto began to use his Water Jutsu to handle some of the blaze while the others dealt with the fires in their own fashion.

However Batman's situation had become a lot more serious as the flames continued to grow and Batman was not the least bit happy about this. He did his best to remain calm and locate a viable exit point for himself but the fire was not going to make it easy. However before it could get any worse he was soon rescued by Hawkgirl.

However, he was not exactly thankful for the rescue, a fact that Hawkgirl noted very quickly and spoke.

"You know, I usually get a thank you from those I rescue."

"I'm not used to being rescued."

"I can see that."

As soon as he was set down, Batman moved away, and naturally the others saw that though they each had different takes on the matter. Kory was wondering why Batman was like that but had her hands full helping care for the injured with the paramedics, though some of the males nearby could not help but stare at her, along with Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl, not like the reaction was anything new. However the one thing that was glaring for all of them right now, especially Superman was that Luthor got away along Ultra-Humanite, and while Luthor might not have all his assets with him, he was not going to count out the possibility that Luthor had other assets only he could touch.

They also had to worry about Mercy Graves as well. She and Luthor might not see eye to eye and he treated her like dirt on occasion, but she did love the guy and no doubt would pull some strings for him. The amount of strings however was still pretty much in contention and as such they would have to make sure that they had eyeballs on her.

…

In an abandoned warehouse…

Inside the decrepit building, Cheetah came in and began to look for the one who had managed to contact her. It had been some time ever since her stint in Los Angeles that led to her running into the Hokage and such she was a lot more focused on finding the way to make up for the money she had to leave behind. But that had been difficult to say the least so when the offer came in for her to offer her services to an interested party willing to pay a fairly hefty fee, she did not say no. The one thing that she did not like was the fact that this was the kind of meeting place she had to go to…it all smelled of…

(Ugh…what the hell?!)

Cheetah visibly did not show it but the stench of death she picked up immediately got her danger senses on. It was both an advantage and disadvantage to have the hunting senses of a predatory cat like a cheetah in the case of smell. The former since it allowed her to smell out danger and potential things that could help, the latter is when it was assaulted by an overpowering stench, it overloaded her other senses.

She looked around for the smell and soon heard footsteps coming towards her and the stench only grew thicker as well.

She soon turned and lo and behold…it was none other than Solomon Grundy before her. And the grin on the zombie's face did little assure Barbara that she was going to be all right.

"Pretty kitty, Grundy pet you."

"No you don't!"

Cheetah quickly dodged the massive zombie's attempt to try and 'pet' her, her senses revolted by both the sight and smell of the undead being before her. Not to mention the fact that she was well aware of the level of strength Grundy had and knew ANY form of petting from him as he would phrase it would either cripple or kill her. However her counter attack to force the zombie to back off did have one side effect…pissing him off.

"Bad kitty hurt Grundy. Grundy punish!"

The two of them were about to go at one another until they were parted by another arrival. The one in question was none other than Shade and he commented a bit snidely about what was happening until his speech was interrupted by another set of arrivals.

One being none other than Star Sapphire, a new arrival who had the close cropped blonde hair and the getup of someone who had a fascination with snakes and had two claw like gauntlets that covered her thumbs and two fingers. They were soon joined by a fully armored figure who had a jet pack that was none other than the pyromaniac Firefly, and amazingly enough Atomic Skull.

All of them were confused by the fact that all of them had been called here for some sort of job, but they did not have to wait long before they saw their employer and his…associate. None other than Lex Luthor himself and Ultra-Humanite and it was clear to them all that this was going to be an interesting job.

Once the introductions were done, the question they had in their heads came out, and Luthor answered.

" Why that job is simple…to destroy the League and Superman himself."

The collected number of bad guys and girls in this case were different in reactions to the suggestion or rather plan of Lex Luthor. Grundy gave a slight grin that looked downright creepy on his face. Star Sapphire was smiling as well, Shade was calm, Cheetah sighed a bit though it was clear that the idea of facing the League was not what she was looking forward to, especially when it concerned Hokage of all people, Copperhead could not help but raise her eyebrow at the idea but seemed to be considering it carefully but also had a smile on her face as she was interested in tangling with this Hokage character. Atomic Skull raised what would amount to his face as an eyebrow at that as well but was more than ready to get paid for this chance to fight the League. Shade sighed a bit at that but seemed to be ready and not back down. Grundy was eager and had a growl due to the fact that he had faced the Hokage before after all and wanted payback.

However, it was not long before someone else decided to speak his mind, and he was a lot more serious about the idea of them facing the League.

Firefly spoke seriously.

"You want us to fight the League?! Are you nuts?!"

"Is there a problem?"

"Hell yes there is! I don't have problems fighting the capes, but the Hokage?! You even know just what that freaky ninja is capable of?!"

"No, fill me in then."

Lex might not show it, but he was rather curious about this Hokage and had kept an eye on him form some time now prior to him being sent into this situation. Only time he didn't was when he was off on business with the whole incident with Aquaman.

"I ran into Deadshot a while back, he had been interrogated by the Hokage who jammed freaking foot long double tipped steel needles into the bones of his legs! If that is not enough he fired Lightning, freaking lightning into Deadshot's legs and nearly cooked him! He literally lit Deadshot up like a fucking Christmas Tree for making passes at Wonder Woman and Starfire until he apologized and then made him talk!"

"You're kidding?!"

"Do I look like I am joking around kitty cat?! The guy's a fucking psycho! How the hell the League let that sadist into their ranks I'll never know, nor do I give a shit!"

Cheetah was quite shocked at the idea of someone like the Hokage being the kind to use torture as a way to make people talk. How the heck could a guy like that be a cape?! Let alone be in the League?! Still when she met him he did not seem to be the kind to use lethal force on her, though now she had doubts. Part of her wanted to cut and run since there was no telling how a second meeting between her and the Hokage would turnout if he decided to do away with being nice. But the other part of her, wanted to get the money needed to finally get a way to free herself from the mistake she made that turned her into…this.

And the only way to finally do so was with money to fund what she needed to be cured. And Luthor…as much as she disliked him personally having learned a lot of what he was capable of doing and what he had already done, she needed the money. So despite her worries she decided to stay…

Copperhead on the other hand smiled even more and spoke in a very husky tone.

"Ooh…now THAT is a man I'd love to see in action…I'm staying."

Firefly on the other hand...

'Screw this! I am gone!"

Lex raised an eyebrow at that as he had not known that the blonde Hokage was actually the kind who was willing to use such…lethal methods. Granted Deadshot was not living up to the first half of his name but that was quite a revelation. Enough for him to ignore the fact that he had just lost one of his hired muscle though he kept in mind that Firefly was not as powerful as some of the people here. But it was not long before someone else decided to join in…

"Good riddance…this Hokage sounds truly worthy of my…alliance with you."

The others turned to see a tall young man who wore a half mask that covered the lower half of his face, he had armor on that was more in line with that of a crusader of some sort but the way he moved and acted, he was hardly someone out in a costume. The fact that he was armed to the teeth meant that he was also someone who was not some fresh of the bus kind of person when it came to killing people.

Lex sighed and nodded.

"Greetings Aztrahan…I am pleased you accepted the invitation despite your…stance on things. I assure you that you will be properly compensated."

"Money is merely a tool to me Luthor…only hunting down my chosen prey is worthy of my…alliance with you."

…

The League just knew that something was going down and Naruto was more than willing to agree with them as they entered the bank. When they got word that Ultra-Humanite gained a number of hostages in the Metropolis Federal Bank, it sounded routine…but after the fact that he had escaped with Luthor, the League knew that there was more than merely a bank robbery going on. Sure Ultra-Humanite needed money, but attacking Metropolis directly sounded off to them, least of all Superman as he had never dealt with him before. Batman agreed since he had fought Ultra-Humanite before as he had a base of operations in Gotham, adding even more concern on this attack.

As for Naruto he was very wary of the whole situation before him and the others, even more so when they entered the bank when his danger senses went on full sensory mode. Whenever his senses were on high alert for one reason or another, it always told him one thing.

'The shit was REALLY going to hit the fan.'

And yet again they were right on the money as the team now found itself under a full scale attack and this time they saw that Luthor was not alone. The villains coming with him were well known by them though with the marked exception of Wonder Woman and Starfire as neither of them had been among the heroes long enough to recognize any of the villains. Naruto read their files on the off chance he found them though he had not expected to face them all at once, of course he did recognize Cheetah which in itself was odd since she was not the type to work with others without good reason. The others were going to be a pain to be sure, though he kept in mind that considering what he knew of them, they not used to working with a team and that perhaps could be their weak point.

Superman spoke seriously as he saw Luthor wearing armor and the gleam in the bald man's eye told him that his long time foe was spoiling for a fight. A fight he personally felt was no longer something that they could continue.

"Luthor! What is going on here?!"

Lex sneered and replied with a blast of energy and that was more than enough to serve as a signal for the collected band of villains to clash with the League. That same move also convinced Clark and the others that the time for talking was over and the time for beating up the villains was now. Clark was NOT happy with this but knew from the actions fo Luthor and the fact he was wearing full armor, no doubt built by Ultra-Humanite, and attacking him openly, that there was no other option but to fight.

…

It did not take long for the warehouse to turn into a battlefield as the League and the collection of villains under Luthor's command were now mixing it up with one another. Already they broke apart to take on one of each on the opposing side. Batman was now tangling with Grundy as he had faced the being before despite the fact he knew that as a zombie the foe he had to face was a pain in the ass to take down. Superman obviously tangled with Luthor, Wonder Woman was now fighting with Shade and Cheetah. Flash fought with Ultra-Humanite and Green Lantern was now fighting alongside Hawkgirl and Starfire as Star Sapphire and Atomic Skull came at them.

Naruto on the other hand was now going to blows with none other than Copperhead while Aztrahan was busy looking at Naruto in a way to get him an idea to how the blonde fought, showing that he was not some religious hysteric without any tactical thinking. It was going to be a tough fight for all the members of the League but there was no going back now.

…

Naruto was not happy as he faced the female assassin who had the eyes of a snake, along with the scales and even the forked tongue of a snake when she smirked at him, which in his view of the situation detracted the fact that she was very attractive to the eyes.

He could not help but feel like he was punched in the gut on how similar this one was to a certain snake summoning bastard Shinobi who had been a major bane to his life way back. The way she grinned might not have come close to that super creepy way Orochimaru smirked, but it came pretty darn close. And naturally he could not help but comment on the situation that had managed to find himself in when it came to the opponent before him.

"Great, just great, I have to face the female version of that Snake Summoning Bastard here! If this is some cosmic entity's idea of a joke I am not laughing!"

Copperhead cocked her head to the side when she was able to hear those comments, she was curious about this Snake Summoner that apparently got on the blonde ninja's nerves. But for now though she had other plans in mind. She quickly launched several fast attacks at the blonde who proved able to fight back against her.

She liked that a lot and had not faced anyone yet who could give her a real fight., But like any self respecting villain, she had no intention of letting him get the upper hand for too long. She moved away form his attacks and had to admit he really knew how to move and that excited the contortionist assassin greatly. Already less than stellar thoughts were cooking in her head and she was more than willing to put all of that to the test. The two traded blows with one another and right now the blonde managed to evade the claws on her hands and then several high spinning kicks at his face, the Shinobi ducked the blows and leaped upward to avoid a sweep kick and then fired his own attacks at the female warrior/assassin. Copperhead managed to avoid an axe kick but whistled in appreciation when the ground that she left behind actually sported a small but deep crater and she knew there and now that she was going to be in for a fight.

"Ooh…you're no Superman…but you certainly have the power…let's see how you stack up!"

"Bring it!"

The two began to throw punches and kicks at one another and when she tried to use her claw gauntlets to cut into him, Naruto quickly used his ceramic armor to defend himself before moving to using his kunai since his swords were not ideal for this kind of close quarters fight. The clashing of metal on metal was heard and soon they were trying to overpower the other in terms of a full on confrontation.

Naruto managed to finally push Copperhead back even more and the woman was well aware that a direct battle with the blonde was not wise. But that hardly depressed her, in fact she relished this kind of a fight and soon rushed him, the blonde dodged the attack and blocked several strikes from her when she used the charge's momentum to her advantage to turn and attack him again. It became clear to him that she was trying to catch him in a grip though why he had no idea. But it became clear to him quickly just what she had in mind when she suddenly fired some form of powder into his face in the guise of a punch that missed. The powder appeared to be some form of hallucinogen. Kurama quickly began to counter it but it was all the time that Copperhead needed to wrap herself around the blonde ninja making him aware that he was now in her control and he did not like that one damn bit.

Copperhead smiled in a very seductive yet sadistic as she began to use her strength on the blonde Shinobi and actually managed to lick his neck and spoke.

"Mmmm! You taste rather nice!"

"Urk! Forgive me if I don't seem all…that thrilled!"

Naruto managed to finally summon enough concentration once the drug was flushed out by Kurama and quickly used Substitution to replace himself with a log . The surprise of the move caught Copperhead off guard and that allowed the blonde to move to the side and land a fist into her face, sending her back and away from him. The blonde was not in the mood for a rematch just yet as he caught his breath, powerful as he was, Naruto was not invincible and he knew that for an absolute certainty.

However his chance to recover was cut short as none other than Cheetah came at him with her claws ready. The blonde quickly blocked her attacks and moved back while firing some smoke bombs at her. She blocked that but soon found out the smoke was mixed with a strong scent that overrode her ability to smell. That was the opening that Naruto needed as he closed the gap through the smoke, relying on his chakra sense to find her. Cheetah managed to block his punch but the power was enough to send her flying back before she recovered as Naruto came out from the smoke.

"You again?"

Cheetah did not see his face but the tone of voice from the ninja told her that he was confused by the fact that she was with the group. Not that she could blame him since she usually did her best to work alone since she did not put it above anyone who she might have worked with to sell her out to the company she was once part of. The slimy bastards had put a bounty on her head and while not many came after her to get said bounty, that certainly did n mean that there was no one interested in the bounty either. But the money that was being placed on her was pretty tempting to be sure and so here she was.

"Yeah, let's finish this!"

Naruto quickly got on the defensive and began to fight with Cheetah, apparently after their little encounter in his city, the catgirl had decided to amp herself up a bit. The blonde on the other hand had also improved and now they were moving as fast as they could, avoiding each other's attacks and lashing out with their own. This carried on for quite a bit as they continued to try and hit one another hard and fast, showing that Cheetah had been working out a lot more in preparation to fight him. And it was not long before Copperhead, fully recovered came to the scene and she had a very feral grin on her face…not a good sign in the minds of both Kurama and Naruto.

Copperhead then did something that surprised anyone in seeing range as she kicked Cheetah back, not enough to hurt her or anything, but to warn her off. The transformed scientist and reluctant villainess was surprised by this and spoke back to Copperhead.

"What the hell?!"

"Back off kitty, this little fox is mine!"

Naruto looked at the two female villains dumbstruck, were the two of them actually fighting over HIM?!

That was proven to be true when the two of them instead of double teaming him in combat…began to attack one another. Though in this case, it seemed that Cheetah was the one who was being attacked and was merely defending herself…and she was irate at the idea of having to fight the one who she was supposed to work with. Copperhead on the other hand was really getting it on with her supposed ally in this little beat down. In fact if he looked right at her eyes, she was actually enjoying the chance to get in a fight with Cheetah.

Naruto could not help but feel that for the first time in his century long life…he had no idea what to do and decided to leave and help the others instead of watching this literal cat fight happen. However, Copperhead moved away from Cheetah for a moment to speak to him.

"Stay right where you are Foxy...you and I have some unfinished business and I HATE being interrupted."

(Okay…this is awkward…)

(("Not so much as what's about to hit! Move!"))

Naruto heeded Kurama's warning and soon avoided several precise arrow shots at him, the blonde quickly used his sword to cut down the next batch of arrows. The blonde turned and soon clashing with the one who had apparently decided to stay after Firefly left and now decided to get involved with placing his head on a pike. The man was dressed in what appeared to some form of hybrid of Western Chain-mail with Kevlar. There were weird symbols there and there happened to be quite an array of weapons on the guy.

One of them appearing to be some form of Western sword, others were also blunt weapons and who knew what else he had on his person. That coupled with his look made him look like a demon slayer of some sort…and his venom laced words only confirmed that whole picture to Naruto.

"You foul demon spawn! Die!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the venomous tone in the man's voice and spoke.

"Who the heck are you?"

"My name does not matter, what matters is I kill you!"

Naruto dodged the incoming strike from what appeared to be a morning star of sorts and he also avoided another attack, this time with a short sword. Whoever this guy was, he was certainly not the kind of person who could be termed as a religious nut. Religious nuts did not have this level of training as he and Naruto began to clash hard with one another. The two dodged the attacks they threw at one another and Naruto turned a bit to see that indeed Cheetah and Copperhead were now throwing down with one another. It still confused the hell out of him why that was the case, but he had little time to think about that as he avoided more attacks from his new would be assailant.

Naruto quickly dodged the next one and then slammed a kick into the side of the guy's head, sending him to the side and he quickly charged in and landed a spinning heel kick to the shoulder.

"GAH!"

That blow made the man drop his morning star and Naruto grabbed him by the front of his clothing and then tossed him hard into the ground like a flapjack.

"Now stay down!"

The man on the other hand was not in the mood to stay down for long.

"NEVER!"

The man got out what appeared to be a smoke bomb and Naruto quickly moved away from the explosive device as it went boom and soon smoke was all over the place. However he did not get a reprieve as now both Cheetah and Copperhead were attacking him, apparently whatever it was that got Copperhead willing to attack Cheetah had been temporarily put on hold and now they were attacking him.

Despite his situation Naruto could not help but comment.

"Great! I just managed to avoid being brained by one seriously screwed over religious nutjob of an assassin. Now I'm being assaulted by a literal catgirl and a snake woman…someone up there in the celestial realm must have a very twisted sense of humor!"

Cheetah had to admit that the humor in the statement was there, but she was more focused on beating the Hokage and it seemed that Copperhead was in the same mindset as she attacked Naruto alongside Cheetah. Naruto quickly dodged the double team attack of a claw slash and a kick from Cheetah and Copperhead respectively. He flipped over them and soon landed on the ground on a hand stand and landed a spinning kick to them that sent them back as he flipped back and faced them for a possible attack.

The crazy religious assassin was back though and was now coming in to bash Naruto's head in. And while they were not happy with that, the two women came in to finish Naruto off, but it was here that Kory herself came in and landed one hell of a haymaker on the religious assassin's armored face.

"Stay away from my friend!"

"You wretched xeno-witch!"

The Tamaranean naturally did not take kindly to that and smashed a punch into the ma and now they were fighting one another seriously and when Solomon Grundy came to attack Superman, Diana came in and slugged the zombie gangster hard and Naruto soon ducked as the being smashed into the nearby wall.

…

But it was not over yet as Grundy got up and was about to attack the two super powered beings when he turned and spotted the Hokage…and from his growl of anger he apparently recognized Naruto.,..and he was not happy.

"YOU! YOU SET GRUNDY ON FIRE! GRUNDY CRUSH YOU!"

The undead stench coming from Grundy made Naruto gag…hell even if the guy looked like he was resurrected by the Edo Tensei Jutsu, the ones who were brought back at least did not stink as bad as this guy.

"Yuck! You really need a bath, ever consider dunking your stinky ass in a bath tub full to the brim of formaldehyde?!"

"RRRAAAAAHHHHH!"

Naruto dodged the incoming fists meant to take his head off and quickly charged in and using his Senjutsu, landed a haymaker of a blow on the zombie, even if his summoned Nature Chakra was not as strong as he would like with him being in a city and all that. The blow sent Grundy back and Naruto pressed the attack before quickly taking a trick of his hated foe Madara's playbook and quickly slapped a number of explosive tags and quickly spoke as the zombie finally saw them.

"As I heard in a military series a while back on TV…FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

The zombie had enough wits to recognize that phrase and growled as the tags went boom, and since Naruto had taken to infusing some of his and Kurama's chakra into them for an extra punch…well. Grundy was sent flying back into the wall and was out like a light.

The two women villains soon attacked again but it was fairly obvious that Grundy's quick defeat was on their minds, though they obviously had different reactions. Cheetah was not too sure tangling with the Hokage was going to be worth it right now while Copperhead…was getting a high on this.

And her next action made that clear as she quickly got close to Naruto and wrapped her hands around him when she evaded briefly his attack. The second she did so, she squeezed her and then readied her fangs to bite him.

"Come here big boy…let me have a bite!"

'"Sorry, but I am NOT a buffet on legs!"

Naruto quickly got her off of him and sent the assassin away and he was soon attacked by Cheetah. He dodged her attacks and managed to land a few blows on her despite the fact he was still recovering from the battle with Copperhead and got her on a throw and landed her own the ground with a thump as he spoke to her.

"Why are you here Cheetah?"

"Why the heck do you care?!"

"You don't strike me as a mercenary who cares only for money…don't ask me why, but I don't think you would have taken this path willingly."

Cheetah had to admit that he was right in what he said but she made her choice even if this was not what she wanted to do.

"Maybe…but here I am and I will not go out quietly!"

…

The others in the League were also having just as interesting a time as Star Sapphire clashed with Green Lantern, Clark obviously now had to deal with Luthor, Diana was currently dealing with Shade who thought he could fool the Amazon, only for her to knock him aside and only by using his cane's power to keep her off balance did he did not wind up being a stain on the ground. Koriand'r was now fighting with Aztrahn who proved that despite him not being able to physically match the Tamaranean, he was not going to go down without a fight. Hawkgirl was now fighting with Grundy and her mace proved one of the things that disrupted magic and that made the zombie scream in pain.

Ultra-Humanite was hardly not involved with the fight as he was now facing none other than Flash alongside Batman and the two were proving to be tough on the Gorilla villain but he was no slouch either. It was not long though that the fight swung in favor of the League and it was clear to Luthor that staying with the others like this was not going to swing into his favor. It enraged him and that made the poison move again which made him groan in pain but he managed to get himself to focus on killing his long time foe.,,just as Batman and Flash had to break away from Ultra-Humanite when he drew a pistol firing energy bolts at them. And this allowed Atomic Skull to finally attack Batman who was now going to have to get creative in fighting him.

Shade was none too happy to be facing none other than Hawkgirl alongside Wonder Woman who was keen on bashing him apart with her mace, and while he used his powers to evade her, it was not going to last forever. It only made things worse when Grundy was sent flying back and slamming into him which spoiled his concentration. The only good thing that came out of the whole thing for him was the fact that the zombie now turned his attention on Hawkgirl, though her Nth Metal Mace hitting him and actually causing him far more pain that most hits he got in the past certainly convinced the zombie that petting this female bird was a bad idea.

Of course being undead and not very bright in the time he was alive to begin with meant that Grundy was far from done. Neither was Hawkgirl though as she smashed another blow into the zombie's chest.

Flash had to quickly avoid several blasts from Star Sapphire who decided to take him out to prevent him from supporting the others and was having a field day and infuriating the woman villain before he made the mistake of not watching his direction and nearly smashed into a wall. He stopped, but quickly got attacked by Star Sapphire who landed one hell of a punch to the face to sent him flying back but was soon saved quickly when a wall of green energy blocked her attack. She turned and was soon engaged by Green Lantern.

"Thanks GL!"

"Watch where you move next time Flash!"

Green Lantern quickly moved to block another attack by Sapphire and the fight between the two specializing in energy constructs was on. Flash quickly moved ahead to support the others and was soon there with John who was now tangling with Shade who had decided to help Star Sapphire though it was obvious that the British woman was not pleased with having her fight become a double team effort, but made no comment.

Kory quickly came in to aid them by attacking Atomic Skull who decided to hit them after recovering from several high powered sonic batarangs courtesy of Batman that allowed the Dark Knight to kick him hard and fast from him, when they were not looking as she had tossed her own foe aside for now to get to them. And when he tried to stir fry her but not before ogling the Tamaranean he was hit by a flying Solomon Grundy, courtesy of Hawkgirl who was now called bird nose by Grundy.

…

Batman found himself facing off with none other than Copperhead, and quickly recognized the way she fought as well as her powers. Yet that in itself was something that he had not expected at all and for good reason. Only one person he knew fought like her, and even had the same name as well…at least the more open name.

"You're not the Copperhead I know of."

Copperhead flipped back like an acrobat and landed on her legs carefully before moving calmly while giving the Dark Knight a sneer mixed with a seductive but violent gleam in her eyes.

"Oh, you mean Nathan? Sorry bat boy…but just because you fought him does not mean there aren't others with the Copperhead title. And I am nothing like him…bring it on, let's see if a Bat can truly take on a Copperhead with some REAL bite!"

She moved with the speed of an acrobat and quickly launched several blows at Batman, showing that she was more aggressive but not foolish like Nathan. Batman could also see that her fighting style was taking advantage of the fact that she was a contortionist as she was able to land blows at angles that would have been painful for any normal person to attempt.

Batman however was able to hold his own against the woman even with the fact that due to the same enhancements like Nathan, this woman was stronger and faster than he was. But like before he knew that this was not going to be an easy fight. Unlike most of his more physical foes with the marked exception of Bane, Copperhead was not going to be like them as her moves were more acrobatic and flexible than most and there was no doubt that she was more aggressive than Nathan was…and that was saying something.

…

Batman was more than willing to continue the fight and quickly proved himself able to keep up with Copperhead as he managed to avoid the same trick used by her on Naruto. He quickly moved closer and struck her hard on the chest and stomach before moving to use a Judo move to get into the right area and move to tossing her aside and into some nearby heavy desks.

However Copperhead was quick to react and quickly used her contortionist training to turn the throw into a trap and quickly subdued Batman andwhen she had the chance to attack, she took it. The League nearby could only watch in anger and shock as she plunged her fangs into Batman with strong intent and despite his armor on, the fangs cut in and hit Bruce who screamed in pain.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

However, that was also the moment that she was grabbed by Wonder Woman's lasso and was pulled off of Batman and before she could react to attack the Amazon, Diana was joined by Kory and soon the snake themed female villain was treated to one hell of a double team assault as Kory landed a punch to the stomach and Diana landed one to the face once they dealt with their own foes.

Copperhead was actually lucky that both the Amazon and the Tamaranean were pulling their punches , otherwise she was going to get a quick trip to the cemetery. And her being knocked out finally convinced Luthor to call for a retreat despite the fact that obviously enraged him to have to pull back from the fight. That and the fact that despite them still new to the whole team work bit, the League proved that they indeed had what it took to work as a team, though that was still too early to tell.

Normally this would have been the signal for the League pursue them, but they did have Copperhead in custody so they had to lock her up, but also to deal with a recent casualty of their own team as well.

…

As the League moved to help Batman back at the Watch Tower, it was clear to all of them, even Batman who was able to get enough wits about him, that this was merely the beginning. It made sense that eventually villains who had powers of their own as well as resources and assets would unite to face them as the League as a group as well. And right now, this group now being led by Luthor were in hindsight the prototypes of what was to come as there was no doubt that there would be more. It helped that some of the more experienced members had dealt with team ups of villains before as well.

…

Unfortunately…Lex was showing the very traits that made many of his relationships, romantic or otherwise very tempestuous.

"The best?! What the hell was I thinking?!"

Lex was none too happy about this, that was plainly obvious to all and his rant only made things worse as some of the villains were none too happy about being berated by the former CEO of Lexcorp. With Star Sapphire speaking first since she was not the kind to like being bossed around by someone like Luthor, let alone insulted as if she was just some regular thug being hired.

"This is a waste of time and pure bollocks, if you think you can do any better than feel free to do this on your own! No amount of money is worth listening to you talk."

The same sentiment spread to the others in the group who were willing to listen and naturally it made Lex reconsider his actions, forcing him to double the amount he promised. That apparently had helped make Star Sapphire change her mind, but it was clear to Lex that this alliance was in severe need for new blood, with Copperhead now in custody, they would have to move fast and find a way to hit the League before they managed to make Copperhead crack.

Unfortunately for Lex, he was going to have a brand new addition to the whole gang, except in this case, the new addition was someone one only worked with when one was VERY desperate, or crazier than the one was. The person in question? None other than the Joker himself, and how he managed to get into the place was something that made Lex Luthor LESS than happy.

'What are you doing here?!"

Apparently that very same question was in the minds of everyone minus Grundy as all of them had heard of Joker. And what they heard was anything but reassuring to their nerves.

"Why I heard you were getting this little band of kiddies together to kick the pants of the League…so naturally with ol'Guano Man being one of the League's line-up I was thinking you need someone to deal with him."

"You think I haven't forgotten the LAST time I had your help Joker?!"

"Oh come on Lexy…you did have Big Blue Boy Scout to deal with at the time, and I managed to help you with my ol'Jade Dragon pet, shame really, losing it the way I did."

Luthor growled well at that as he was well aware of what the statue was made of and how it's material had put him on death's door.

"It doesn't matter…I am not asking for your help here…now get lost!"

"You need my help Lexy…"

Joker's grin did little to ease the feelings of disgust and mistrust Lex had for the man, and for good reason, one of which was the obvious insanity of the clown. There was no denying he was dangerous and capable…but had the predictability of unstable nitroglycerine carried in a leaking case by a drunk man in the hot sun. Hell even he wondered how Harley Quinn once a respected psychologist had fallen for the maniac and side with him. He could also tell that the others were none too happy to have Joker in with them.

Star Sapphire looked with distaste towards Joker, the same could be said for Cheetah. The same could be said for the men in this unit, only exception to the whole group was Grundy since the man was technically dead to begin with.

"Like I need a hole in my head."

Joker gave a pout and spoke.

"Don't be mean Lex, after all I know that our little snake lady before being captured managed to bite my old buddy Batsy boy. And that helps you…"

"Oh? How exactly does the idea of Batman being a temporary chew toy for Copperhead help? Knowing the League, he will be fully healed soon enough."

"Because I know how Guano Man thinks Lexy…and right now, he would be doing all he can to show that he is not going to be a burden or he would need help from others who are not in his little family of pajama wearing kiddies. All he needs is a reason and soon he will be on his way here to prove what I said…and he will be alone too."

Joker then smiled wickedly and finished his little speech.

"And you know what that means don't you?"

And Lex did, and was finally convinced to have Joker with them.

"Well then, I guess that means you are in this one, but you had better not lie to me. All right, I suppose that it is time to welcome our soon to come guest."

…

Watch Tower…

The League were currently working on the aftermath of the battle with what appeared to be the exact counterpart of their group. The fact that they were apparently under Luthor's command only made the situation all the more complicated. Luthor was a very smart being, dangerous, cunning, and more which was why until now, not even Superman could have him fully locked away. But with him leading a team of villains, several super powered ones, then there was no doubt that things had just gotten complicated.

Right now though, Superman had left Copperhead in prison and under heavy guard with Diana coming along to make sure that she did not escape, and she was not alone as Kory had gone with her. Apparently the Tamaranean took considerable offense to the fact that the woman had tried to bite and potentially end Naruto's life as well as Batman's. Even though she was not that close to the World's Greatest Detective, she saw him as an ally and she did not like it one bit if her allies were ever hurt.

Flash could not help himself as he spoke to Naruto who was busy recovering from that not so nice encounter with the female assassin with the serious snake theme.

"Was I just seeing things back there but did that woman get a high from trying to crush you and bite you?"

Naruto groaned and replied.

"No…she did get a high on that…I swear that woman creeps me out. If she decided to have pale skin and far freakier snake themed powers…I'd have thought I was dealing with a female version of Orochimaru! That I do NOT need!"

"Who?"

The blonde spoke to the confused speedster.

"Long story short, Orochimaru was a renegade ninja of my village who happened to be as powerful as a Kage. And he had a VERY unhealthy obsession with power. That woman's fixation on me reminds of that creepy bastard. I can take heart in the fact that at least she's got none of that nut's powers and nature…though the whole thing is still creeping me out."

Wally could tell that this was not a subject that he liked to talk about and decided to drop it for now. And for good reason as he and the others decided to check on Batman and see how he was doing at the moment. Unlike Batman, Naruto had a strong healing factor and due to the fact that he was able to counter Pamela Isley's poisons and her pheromones he had a fairly accurate idea that he would be able to resist Copperhead's venom even if it would make him feel like crap afterwards.

Batman on the other hand would not have that at all and right now it was taking some time for him to recover. Thankfully the medical bay of the Watch Tower had a fully stocked medical suite and right now Batman was recovering. As the two came in he saw Superman talking with an obviously recovering Batman and apparently they were discussing some thing that seemed to be the kind of thing that was really sensitive.

"You need to rest, there's no telling how the effects of the…"

"I'm fine!"

Flash saw that and quickly revealed that he was smarter than most as he whispered to Naruto.

"Looks like he's okay but I get the feeling that he does not like being benched. Better we let them focus on working things out."

Naruto could tell that Flash had a point but spoke to him either way.

"Nah, you go on ahead, I'll keep an eye on this."

"You sure?"

"Trust me on this, I've seen worse standoffs…and hell I've been a few in my day."

"All right…see you…old man."

Naruto gave the speedster who grinned a bit a mock glare and replied.

"I am so going to get you for that."

…

Naruto shook his head at the way J'onn went at trying to convince Batman to rest, if there was one thing he could say about the Dark Knight…he was stubborn. Reminded him of himself actually when he was usually told he could not become a ninja way back when he was still seen as Kurama's jailor and not as a real person by the villagers who hated him. Prior to his growth as a ninja to greatness, he was the dead last in the Academy, and had little to no talent. It was because of the work ethic and drive to succeed that he had…hr made it this far.

Of course, he had skirted on the edge of disaster more than once in the times he had reached his level of ability. The time training in the use of his Wind Affinity and fusing it with the Rasengan was one such instance, the training with Senjutsu was another. And he had no doubt that Batman right now did not want to be the weak link in a group of people with super human powers.

That told him that sooner or later, there was going to be one heck of a problem and Batman was going to be the catalyst.

That meant only one thing…

Trail him…

…

Near the hideout…

Naruto groaned mentally to himself as he watched over Batman, he just knew that this was a bad idea with him going out on his own but he respected the Dark Knight well enough to know that the why of him being here in this place on his own. That did not however mean he had to like the implications if the man go caught. Dealing with a band of thugs and one super villain was all well and good, but this bunch of villains led by Luthor began to make him recall one group that had been the bane of his life when he was older. Akatsuki…granted none of the team of villains had the abilities of that band of S-Ranked Ninja, but he was not going to rule them out yet as a threat.

Plus his experience with this…Gang was telling him that there was something going on and he had to be on his toes.

He was the not the only one to bethinking that as well as non other than Kurama spoke to him.

(("Well…turns out that ol'Batman decided to do things his way…reminds me of you a considerable deal Naruto."))

(Please…don't say that, I don't recall ever being that dark and brooding.)

(("True, but anyway, you do have to admit that this is not the best of ideas…who knows what is going to happen."))

(That makes two of us…hold it…oh hell no!)

Sure enough things were about to get rather hairy as it were as he now spotted Batman being tracked by the villains and since Batman was on his own before he showed up, he just knew this was not going to end well. Though he did keep in mind that Batman was not someone fresh out of the Academy and moved to help him.

(("Yep…this is about to get interesting…hope that your idea is going to work."))

…

The move proved to be the right one as Batman was now being attacked by the group of villains and apparently the whole thing was planned this time around. The Dark Knight was about to be hit by Grundy in the face when he blonde quickly arrived and slammed a Rasengan right into the face of the zombie…sending him flying back like a comet from the proverbial bowels of hell. That attack stopped the others as they had no idea that Batman was being tracked and tailed as well and now they knew that things were about to get interesting.

Batman looked at Naruto and spoke sternly even when they were in the middle of this mess.

"What are you doing here?"

"You seriously are asking me that question at a time like this?!"

Batman did not respond as both he and Naruto now found themselves under attack by the team of villains brought in by Luthor. It was not looking good at all but neither of them were going to go down without a fight. Shade tried to cloak himself with his cane, but Naruto quickly fught back by using his kunai with the special tag, using the Hirashin Jutsu to get next to the man before he could react and smacked him right in the face with a fist.

"GGGRARRRR!"

Grundy came at Naruto from behind and Naruto quickly flipped over the zombie and quickly slapped some explosive tags on the zombie and those detonated to send the zombie back. Naruto quickly turned and used his kunai to block an attack from the same religious nutjob trying to smash his head open with the Morning Star.

Batman was now trading or rather dodging blows from Ultra-Humanite and also from none other than Cheetah. The Dark Knight might not say it but he was well aware that this was a dangerous situation as the rest of Luthor's team were now being supported by Luthor himself in that suit that would no doubt hold off the poison at bay. He fired several batarangs at Luthor to distract him and evade the blasts, but suddenly he found himself being attacked by some form of gas that made him cough even more and making him lose focus.

"Batman!"

Naruto quickly moved to support the Dark Knight once he managed to force the demon hunter back and then used a pair of shuriken to staple him to the wall. But had no choice but to disengage when Shade and Grundy came at him again, only this time the shadow making pest used his power to hide Grundy from his sight, a neat trick to be sure, had it not been for the fact that the blonde had far sharper senses than most and had fought in situations like this one before. Even as the zombie tried to close the gap in the cover of the shadows summoned by Shade, the blonde quickly took out his sword and summoned his chakra to unleash a blast of pure air into the shadows blasted Grundy away and allowed Naruto to attack Shade directly.

The man was sent flying back and Naruto quickly moved to help Batman, but then he was soon attacked by Star Sapphire once more as she fired several beams that forced him off his course to his fellow League member and he was not happy about it at all. But before he could counter, the same nutjob he had dealt with before appeared next to Batman's prone form with a drawn blade aimed right at the man's throat. And he was soon joined by none other than the Clown Prince of Crime who apparently had a card on Batman's neck as well and Naruto knew enough to know those cards had a razor shapr cutting ende, and having been the Dark Knigt's foe for a very long time, the guy would know where to best hurt the now prone Dark Knight.

The unspoken meaning for the move was not lost on the blonde warrior and so he sheathed his sword and finally surrendered. That was the opening needed by Ultra-Humanite to hit him in the back of the head and send him to unconsciousness or as much as naruto would willingly allow it, Naruto had a heck of a lot more toughness than most though and the blow while painful was not as painful as the punches he got socked with by Tsunade…but he had to make it looked like it hurt and that he was out cold since this was the only option to avoid them killing Batman when he was like this.

There would be time to escape later...

…

To be continued…

…

Author's Notes:

Well, we are now officially in the Injustice Gang Arc and I hope that this is all right to look at. The inclusion of the female version of Copperhead seems to have worked and at least I got the approval to use her from our fellow writer in the site. Thanks for that since it certainly means I am not stealing anyone's thunder here intentionally or not.

It struck me as funny when I did this since if one thought about it, pale skin and creepy abilities, plus obsession with the Sharingan aside, Copperhead is somewhat like the female version of Orochimaru in the DC world. Naruto is naturally aware of that and is not the least bit pleased with this. Even more so since it seemed that said snake lady has the hots for him in a bad way, it makes him feel like he's now in the same spot Sasuke was in when the creepy ninja traitor had the desire for the Sharingan. Only in this case, it seemed that Copperhead gets a sexual high in trying to get into his pants before ending him.

Kind of like that Bond Girl played by Famke Janesen who could literally get an orgasm when she kills people. Kind of felt that this would be one of the ways this version of Copperhead gets her jollies apart from doing the mattress dance with a partner, willing or not.

Hope it helps.

And yes, I added Atomic Skull...why not?

...

Anyway, I figured that instead of doing the Deathstroke bit I would introduce an OC who as you can guess is after Naruto for a different reason than money. I did not find the idea of having the man come into this story just yet since it would be too much like a rip-off already of Harbinger's work and others.

Don't get your panties in a bunch though, Deathstroke will be there soon enough in the story so don't worry your head off about it. And will I add Ravager? Maybe I will…and what role will she have? That is yet to be determined.

The new OC is a male demon hunter who does not believe in Naruto being a hero despite his actions and is fanatically dedicated to slaying him to end the veil of 'lies' that Naruto uses. He also has the plan to kill Raven as he is well aware of her status as the daughter of Trigon. Now he is not your typical villain as the story progresses, but s the story progresses, he soon shows that his experiences and what he has seen has warped his reasoning and he had become so fanatical that even his former employers thought him too dangerous to let stay with their unit.

And he is no slouch either as despite not being as experienced as most, he is not afraid to fight to the death when it comes to that. And he is not going to relent in hunting Naruto either so don't think this will be the only time his mug will be seen.

Mari (Vixen) is indeed Kory modeling mentor and will soon be joining the League much earlier…same with Zatanna since I loved both of them. And I really hate the idea of Mari being killed to get Stewart and Shaeyra back so Rex is born. Any comments or suggestions, please feel free to send them my way

…

Also…any errors here, please contact me, lack of proper sleeping habits is a bad thing…along with regular real life issues…so if I miss anything, please tell me so I can fix the bugs. But if you are merely going to flame me just for kicks, then what you can do is to…

Piss off and bother someone else.

…

Anyway, on to the rest of the plans about to be finished in this story of mine as well as the latest announcements. I have decided to try and search for the sketches I made of the lemons for this story and like Naruto Dragon Champion, I will set them on a side story so it would not clutter up the place.

Also there will be a new version of Justice league Fire Shadow using the Naruto Alpha as the spring board to start this whole thing. I decided to make this on my free time as an alternative to the original Fire Shadow that has a number of holes in it but I continued since I feel that since I am committed, to the plan I used for it I will see it to the end as it is.

The new version however will not be taking place before the formation of the League…so Naruto will not have the time to settle in the DC world like before. I plan to have him appear in a different time frame in the formation of the League, which will be up to me since I am taking the risk after all

…

On the subject of my stories,..I will make sure to get to the rest of the Halo works on October since I will be working on the last chapters for my Non-Halo stories before I freeze them and work on my Halo stories. Will work on WOW/Halo next and update G.I Joe Halo as well. And then Mass Effect Halo to follow since I have already begun the frame work on the next chapter which will have a meeting between John and Adriana Shepard. VanDread Halo The Second Stage will not be worked on yet since there is a lot on my mind.

I am also going to work on adding a chapter to my Naruto/Laura Kinney story before I put it on ice like all the Non Halo stories to move back into Halo.

Also, I do not know if anyone recalls this but I will make a variant of my Naruto Deserted Island idea but use John-117 in it and no, he will not be on an island, but he will be in a universe where he makes a difference. Yes it will be a series of one shot lemons and if I DO touch on any universes I have crossed Halo with before…let me make one thing clear.

Those one shots have NOTHING in common with the stories I have made already.

….

Some new ideas given to me will include taking the Dragon Champion concept I made, place it in Gianos and bring an OC made by both me and castlecrasher009. That means I will collaborate with him to create a story for Queen's Blade. If you know the anime then I have no reason to tell you what it is about. Nothing concrete yet but we do have a plan set and when we find the time and moxxy to do this, then we go all full power to the thrusters.

…

Apart from that…not much else.

Will wrap up the Injustice Arc soon enough on the next chapter and we'll see how it goes from there…

And yes, Pamela Isley WILL make a more serious appearance soon enough. As for Naruto's boss Carol becoming a heroine…may happen soon enough, but will need more time to think it all over.

Okay, enough rambling…on with the show!


	15. Message

Greetings once more to my readers…

This is not a new chapter or story, but a message...which I will delete once it's purpose is accomplished.

As of 7 pm here in my side of the world, the Typhoon Ruby is coming towards the central part of Philippines, and I happen to be living in said area, namely in the Visayas region. This is pretty much like that of the Super Typhoon Yolanda, but thankfully if you can call it good news of course, that Typhoon Ruby is not as powerful as Yolanda, but that is up for debate...flooding is a high probability with the amount of rain it will bring so I have to accept the fact that flooding is a major possibility.

And right now...it will make landfall at 8 pm.

My family have made all the proper preparations, our home is reinforced, food supplies, medical supplies, water, batteries, and whatnot are stocked. Our evac site for me and my mother is set and ready for occupation and we will leave for that tomorrow as my Dad and our helpers will hold the fort in our home here. My Dad is a tough old man and I have faith that he will pull through, he survived Yolanda like we did, so he is ready.

I have already backed up all my files in portable drives, and plan to disassemble my PC and take it with me to the evac site and hopefully ride it out with my mother and those who we can help, including my aunt. Even if my province is not in the direct path of Typhoon Ruby, I will still treat this like I did Yolanda, we had enough time to prepare and I have prepared as best I can.

Once I post this, I will be working on watching the Typhoon and if...if the situation passes, I will post a follow up message on this one and give you all an update. This is not a trick by the way, the news for the past week have focused on this typhoon and no doubt your own TV news stations have reported it. So yeah, I will have to once more go off grid just like I did on Yolanda. I apologize profusely for this as I had planned to update all my Non Halo stories that I could before moving back to my Halo projects next year, but I cannot do much if I am badly injured or worse...

Well, best not to dwell on that, suffice to say no story update is worth my life or my family's.

Hope to send you a new message with good news soon.

Freedom Guard.


	16. Message 2

Greetings once more to my readers…

I have good news and bad news.

Bad news first, sure that sounds really weird but better to get all this squared away so it does not sour the good news. Bad news is that Typhoon Ruby is still around and causing some level of havoc over here. We are still under signal number 2 here in my home town so everyone is still wary and making sure that the Typhoon does not get any funny ideas so I can't be sure if it's totally gone just yet.

Good news, the Typhoon in question is much weaker now than what it was several days ago, sure we have rains, but the damage was not as high as feared. Power supplies are intact, water supplies are all good, cell sites still work, roads are all good, no flooding, no debris...and obviously internet is intact. Our home survived with no damage as far as I have heard, and my father is alive and kicking. If the weather clears up, my mom and I will be shipping back home tomorrow and I will be back in business soon enough. I will update what I can of my non Halo stories and then move back to Halo after Christmas. That is conservative to be sure but it's a lot better than what happened the last time. Anyway, I am alive and my folks are too so that is all good to me.

See you all soon.

Freedom Guard.


End file.
